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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



TREES 



AND 



TREE-PLANTING 



BY 



GEN. JAMES S. BRISBIN, U. S. A. 



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'30 







NEW YORK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1888 



Copyright, 1888, by Harper & Brothers. 






All rights reserved. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

FOREST DESTRUCTION. 

Effect of Forest Destruction upon a Country. — Effects Produced in 
Europe and Asia. — The Ancient Habitableness of those Regions 
Contrasted with Modern Barrenness and Unproductiveness. — For- 
ests as an Essential to Industry and Comfort. — Dependence of Man- 
kind on Wood. — A Consideration for Future Wants. — Telling Re- 
sults of the Wilful Waste of the Atlantic States Forests. — Manner 
of Meeting the Question of Wholesale Destruction. — System of 
Forest Management in France and Germany. — The Unprotected 
State of American Forests generally. — The Forest Regions of the 
Northwest, and a Suggestion for their Preservation Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

CONSEQUENCES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 

The Wasteful Havoc of Forest-lands, and its Serious Consequences. — 
The Indifference Manifested towards Remedying the Evil. — The 
Action of Public Corporations on Forest-lands. — The Efforts of Dr. 
Drake to Protect Forests. — The Evil Consequences of Non-atten- 
tion. — Probable Date of a Timber Famine in the United States. — 
The Inherited Duties of Americans. — The Destined Uses of Nat- 
ure's Growth. — Fencing and Railroad Interests as a Means of For- 
est Destruction. — Annual Destruction and Replacement Contrasted. 
— Convincing Necessaries 6 

CHAPTER III. 

EFFECT OF FORESTS ON A COUNTRY. 

The Effect of Trees on Humidity, Evaporation, Rainfall, and Prevail- 
ing Winds. — Nebraska's Generous Labor in Behalf of the Repro- 
duction of Trees, and her Reward. — Humidifying Influence of the 
Pacific Winds on Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. — The Humidity of 
Forests, to What Due.— The Theory of Condensation in Connection 



VI CONTENTS. 

with Trees. — Evil Results of Forest Destruction in Santa Cruz. — 
The Serious Results of Forest Destruction to Manufacturing Indus- 
tries. — The Tree-planting of Lower Egypt and Consequent Rain- 
fall. — Moisture Distribution of Kansas and Nebraska, to What Due. 
— The Agricultural Benefits Derived from Tree-planting in Aus- 
tralia. — The Australian Desert's Reclamation Possible. — The De- 
struction of Forest-lands for Agricultural Purposes in the United 
States. — Decrease of Lumber Supply and its Increasing Value. — 
Precautionary Measures Discussed Page 11 

CHAPTER IV. 

DANGER OF TIMBER FAMLNE. 

Convincing Proofs of the Approach of a Timber Famine. — Manufac- 
ture of Charcoal in New England, and Quantities of Wood An- 
nually Consumed thereby. — The Destruction of Forests on the 
Tittabawassee and Cass Rivers Illustrated. — The Immensity of For- 
est Destruction in Nevada.— A Prediction of Nevada's Future. . 17 

CHAPTER V. 

DESTROYING THE REDWOOD. 

A Description of the Redwood Forests.— Lumbering Operations in the 
Redwood Forests in Detail. — The Advantages of Skilled Axemen 
in Lumbering Operations. — The Axeman's Efficiency in Time of 
War. — The Mill Machinery, of What Consisting. — Process of Pre- 
paring the Timber. — Immense - sized Trees. — Average Yield of 
Sawed Stuff per Acre. — The Forest Soil Described. — Depth of 
Root of the Redwood-tree, to What Due. — A Reasonable Expla- 
nation. — Great Age of the Redwood-tree. — Manner of Growth and 
General Appearance. — Experiences of the Log Camp. — Redwood 
Logging in California 20 

CHAPTER VI. 

FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 

The Forest World and Human Life Compared. — Remarkable-sized 
Trees, Where Found. — The Largest and Oldest Specimens in the 
World. — Adanson's Experience of the Age of Trees. — "The Afri- 
can Baobab," " Californian Pine," "American Cypress," "The 
Tree Shelter of Cortez," " The Chestnut-tree of Mount Etna," "The 
Babylonian Tree," " The Wiirtemberg Linden-tree," " The Ancient 
Oaks of England," " The Old Walnut-tree of the Balkans," " The 
Banyan-tree of Ceylon," "The Ancient Cedar Forest of Lebanon," 
"The Feathery Cocoanut and Fan-like Palmyra of India," "The 
Date-tree," "American Trees of Historic Fame," "The Walnut- 
tree," "The Soap Plant of California," "The Mulberry-tree," "The 
Jonesia Asika" and "The Tamala of India," "The Shakespearian 
Mulbeny," " The Wads worth Oak of New York," " The Live-oaks 



CONTENTS. yii 

of Florida," and the Grand Oaks of Europe variously and separate- 
ly Described.— The Oriental Mulberry Proverb.— A Quotation from 
Genesis Page 27 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE OLDEST TIMBER EST THE WORLD. 

Where Found, and Uses to which Put.— Its Present Preserved Condi- 
tion and Sacred History.— The Ancient Trees of America, Where 
Found. — Petrified Relics. — Evidences of Ancient Tree-growth in 
Nevada.— Indian Tradition on the Tree-growth of Nevada.— Car- 
bonized Tree-trunks 35 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BEAUTY OP TREES. 

Their Varieties of Feature and Form and Diversity of Character. — 
The Attributes of Trees. — The Essential Condition of Beauty in 
Trees. — Beauty of Forest Retreats. — The Forest Enjoyments and 
Joyous Inhabitants. — Individual and Collective Beautifying of 
Trees, How Realized 37 

CHAPTER IX. 

INFLUENCE OF TREES ON CLIMATE. 

Forest Resources of India. — Formation and Development of the For- 
est Service of India. — Utility of Indian Forests, of What Con- 
sisting. — Traces of Flooded Areas.— Decrease of Stream in Pun- 
jab Rivers, to What Due. — The Temperature of Russia, How Af- 
fected by Forest Destruction. — Difficulty of Replanting Trees in 
Russia. — A Striking Illustration of a Forest-denuded Country. — 
Khanate of Bokhara. — Its Fertility Now and Thirty Years ago 
Contrasted. — Bavarian Observations. — Ascertained Influence of 
Forests on Climate, Relative Moisture, Fertility, and Healthful- 
ness, with Illustrations. — The Distribution of Rainfall and For- 
ests of the United States. — Serious Discoveries in the United States 
in Connection with Forest Destruction. — An Unpleasant Future 
Prospect. — Industrious Prosperity of the United States, How Threat- 
ened. — Saying of Dr. Hayes and How it Concerns the United 
States 41 

CHAPTER X. 

WARMTH OF TREES IN WINTER AND COOLNESS IN SUMMER. 

Temperature of Trees. — Their Winter Warmth and Summer Cool- 
ness. — Differences of Temperature of Different Trees Illustrated. — 
Heat-producing Property of Trees Exemplified. — Local Heating 
Influence of Forests. — The Additional Property of Evergreens. — 
Their Twofold Office.' 45 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE BLOOD OF TREES. 

Experiments in Connection with the Circulation of Sap in Trees. — 
Variety of Sap-exuding Trees. — Non Sap-yielding Species. — The 
Influence of Climate on Flow of Sap. — Composition of Sap, to What 
Due. — Distinctive Characteristics of Sap-yielding Trees Demon- 
strated. — Effect of the Temperature of Soil and Atmosphere on Sap- 
flow. — Principal Ingredients of Sap. — Daily Meteorological Obser- 
vations and What they Prove. — Explanations on the Alternations of 
Sap-flow. — The Observations of Biot and Nevins, and What they 
Determine. — The Opinion of Mr. Hubbard Confirmed by Experi- 
ments. — The Absorbent Power of Roots. — Development of Leaf 
and Flower, How Influenced, and Origin of their Vitality. .Page 47 

CHAPTER XII. 

SHELTER-BELT S. 

Vegetable Need of Protection Illustrated. — Observed Fallacies and 
Reasonable Contradictions. — Laws of Heat Radiation Demonstrated. 
— Nightly Atmospheric Heating. — Condition and Elevation of Air 
Favorable to Vegetable Life. — Atmospheric Vapor, How Supplied. 

— The Benefits of Transpiration of Forests. — Observations in 
Europe, and What they Prove. — A Conclusion Established. — Ad- 
duced Facts. — Motion of the Atmosphere. — Liquid and Aerial Mo- 
tion Contrasted. — Aerial Motion Illustrated. — Protective Systems 
and their Controlling Influences. — Experienced Facts versus Theo- 
ry. — A Study for the Orchardist and Farmer. — Experienced Testi- 
mony on the Influence of Shelter-Belts 54 

CHAPTER XIII. 

KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT. 

The White, Blue, Black, Green, Red, and European Ashes.— Their 
Growth, Usefulness, and Manner of Culture. — Climate and Soil 
best Suited to their Growth. — Distinguishing Traits and Proper- 
ties of Varieties.— The Mountain Ash.— Its Deportment, Uses, and 
Manner of Propagating.— Its Enemies.— The American Flowering 
Ash Described 63 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE WALNUT. 

Its Culture, Usefulness, and Productiveness.— Value of the Walnut as 
a Crop.— Seed per Acre— Its Nativity. — Traces of its Antiquity 
and Introduction into Europe.— Recognized Roman Varieties and 
their Names. —Its Modern Cultivation and Increased Varieties. 

— The Black Walnut. — Where Found, Attainable Size, and At- 
tendant Features. — The Butternut. — Climate best Suited to its 



CONTENTS. IX 

Growth.— General Qualities. — Its Medicinal Properties. — The Eng- 
lish Walnut. — Its Cultivation, Distinguishing Properties, and Fruit- 
fulness Page 70 

CHAPTER XY. 

THE MAPLES. 

The Sugar Maple: its Productiveness, Peculiarities of Growth, Foli- 
age, and Manner of Culture.— A Proposition Worthy of Note. — 
Placing Maple-groves with Respect to Shelter. — The Advantages 
of Regular Planting. — Thrift of Trees when Transplanted from 
Dense Thickets. — Preferable Transplants. — Timber and Fuel Qual- 
ities of Maple. — Its Ornamental Standard. — The Chief Uses of Ma- 
ple. — Peculiarity of its Seed. — Soil best Adapted to its Growth. 
— The Soft Maple: its Wild and Cultivated Thrift, Manner of 
Planting, and Uses. — The Red Maple : Range of Growth, Na- 
tive Home and Standard Timber, and other Qualities. — The Ash- 
leaved Maple: its Uses, Growth, and Ornamental Advantages. — 
The Striped Maple: Where Found, Growth, and Ornament. — The 
Norway Maple : its Advantages. — The Large and Round-leaved 
Maples generally Described 74 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ELMS. 

The White Elm. — Its Usefulness. and Demand.— Growth and Attain- 
ment.— Elms, How Planted. — Additional Cropping of Area.— Re- 
sistance against Insects. — Its Use as a Shade-tree. — The Elm as De- 
scribed by Michaux. — Its Ancient and Modern Popularity. — Soil 
Suited to its Growth. — Effect of Crowded Planting on its Appear- 
ance. — Its Ornamental Usefulness. — The Corky White Elm. — 
Its Distinguishing Features. — Its Additional Name. — The Wa- 
hoo, or Winged Elm. — Its Distinguishing Growth and Scarcity. 
— Uses to which Put. — Its Medicinal Properties. — The Red Elm. 
— Its Relative Kindred. — Elevated Home. — Its Growth and Useful- 
ness.— Soil Suited to its Growth. — Durability of its Wood.— The 
Uses of Small Specimens. — Its Enemies and Objections 82 

CHAPTER XVII. 

TIIE LOCUST. 

The Honey-Locust. — Where Found and Convenient Usefulness. — Its 
Growth and Value. — Locust- wood as Pavement. — An Exceptional 
Specimen. — Uses of the Thorny and Thornless Varieties, and their 
Characteristics. — Distinguishing Variety Features. — Its Resisting 
Properties to Destructive Agencies. — Experience of Mr. Helme on 
Locust-planting. — Manner of Sowing its Seed for Hedge. — Manner 
of Transplanting Explained. — Its Usefulness as a Wind-break. — 



X CONTENTS. 

Successful Hedge-growing Experiments. — The Water-Locust. — 
Its Growth.— General Characteristics Compared with the Honey- 
Locust. —Where Found and Soil Suitable to its Growth.— The Yel- 
low and Common Locust variously Described. — The Rose-flowered 
Locust Described Page 85 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE CHESTNUT. 

A Favorable Notice.— Its Remunerative Returns. — Manner of Setting 
Out and Caring For.— Benefits of Cutting Back.— Ground Suited to 
its Growth.— A Difficulty of its Raising.— Manner of Sowing its 
S eec l_\yi n ter Preservation of Plants. — Time to Transplant.— A 
Release from a Difficulty. — Chestnut-planting in Nevada, and Pro- 
ductiveness.— Growth of the Chestnut in North Carolina, and its 
Great Growth in Europe.— An Old Tree and its Productive Bear- 
ing.— Uses of Chestnut Wood.— Its Durability.— The Chincapin.— 
Where Found.— Quality of its Fruit.— Durability of Wood.— Its 
Growth Influenced by Climate 90 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE BOX-ELDER. 

Its Nativity.— Range of Growth and Soil Suited to its Growth.— Gen- 
eral Appearance and Duration of Life.— Description of its Wood, 
Bark, and Leaf. — Large Specimens, Where Found. — Manner of 
Sowing its Seed.— A Suggestion by Michaux.— Date of Introduc- 
tion into Europe. — Attained Height 93 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE BIRCH. 

The Canoe-Birch.— Its Romantic and Legendary Connections.— Youth- 
ful Reminiscences.— Its Native Home and Attainable Dimensions. 
— Color and Use of its Bark.— European and American Birch. — 
Their Growth.— Advantages of Dense Sowing. — Its Value as Fuel. 
—Characteristics.— Seed, Where Obtained.— Soil Suited to its Pro- 
duction.— Black Birch.— Its Usual Height.— Its Wood Described. 
— Where Found.— Seed, when Ripe.— Yellow Birch.— Where it 
Thrives.— Height and General Characteristics.— The Red Birch.— 
Its Proportions. —Its Climate. — Seed, when Ripe. —The White 
Birch. — Its Insignificance. — Its Only Virtue 95 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE HICKORY. 

Its Favored Emblematic Character.— Productive Qualities.— Manner 
of Planting for Fruit and for Wood.— The Shellbark Hickory.— 
Its Features, Form, and Character. — Its Twofold Merits. — The 



CONTENTS. XI 

Thick Shellbark Hickory.— General Characteristics. — Quality of 
its Fruit. — Composition of Leaf. — Pignut Hickory. — Its Size, At- 
tainable Height, and Particular Qualities. — Quality of its Fruit, 
and for What Used.— The Mocker Nut. — Attainable Height and 
Size. — Manner of Growth. — Its Fruit Described. — Distinguishing 
Characteristics. — Probable Eeason of its Name. — The Pecan Nut. 
— Its Attainable Height. — Quality of its Wood and Fruit. — Gen- 
eral Appearance and Productiveness. — The Bitter-Nut Hickor} r . — 
Its Associate Trees. — Where Found and Progressive Decrease. — Its 
Liability to Destruction Page 97 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PINES. 

Their Rank among Trees. — Uses to Which Put. — Produce of the 
Pine. — Places Famous for its Growth. — Its Ornamental Advan- 
tages. — The White Pine. — Its Attainable Height and Size. — Scar- 
city of the Pine in New England and Other States, and Cause. 
— Present Supply, from Where Procured. — Future Prospects of 
Pineries. — Its Accommodating Growth. — Soil Suited to its Growth. 
— Effect of Varied Soils on Quality of its Wood. — An Objection 
to its Ornamental Qualities. — Properties of its Wood as Fuel. — 
A Suggestion on Planting the Pine. — The Red Pine. — Its Nativ- 
ity. — Attainable Height. — Soil Suited to its Growth. — General Ap 
pearance. — Durability and Quality of its Wood. — Its Beautify- 
ing Advantages. — Experienced Difficulties of Raising. — Practised 
Roguery in Selling Seed. — Gray and Scrub Pine. — Its Diffused 
Range of Growth and Attainable Size. — For What Used and for 
What Recommended. — Its Advantages for Ornamental Purposes. — 
Its Easy Culture. — The Yellow Pine: Where Found. — Its Sub- 
stituted Name. — Peculiarities of its Growth. — Soil Suited to its 
Abundant Growth. — Its Good Qualities and Chief Uses. — Pitch 
Pine. — Its Confined Range of Growth. — Soil Suited to its Growth, 
and its Attainable Height. — Its Particular Properties. — Its Chief 
Uses. — Its Undesirable Peculiarities. — Stone Pine. — Where 
Found. — Chief Uses and Adaptability. — Properties of its Seed and 
Durability of its Wood. — Reason of its Non-extensive Cultivation. 

— Loblolly Pine : Its Disadvantages and General Uselessness. — 
Scotch Pine. — Its Relative Merits Compared with the White Pine. 

— Its Usefulness and Recommended Culture. — Austrian Pine: 
as Recommended by Bryant, Loudon, and Bayreutk. — Where 
Found — Purpose for which Cultivated. — Its Durability and Other 
Advantages. — Scrub Pine. — Where Found and its Uselessness. — 
Corsican Pine. — Its Nativity, Valuableness, Attained Height, and 
Manner of Growth. — Its Ornamental Advantages. — Table-Moun- 
tain Pine. — Its Height and Appearance. — Where Found and Gene- 
ral Worthlessness 101 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

CEDARS. 

White Cedar. — Where Found and Soil Suited to its Growth. — Its 
Chief Uses. — Its Ornamental Value. — The Red Cedar. — Its At- 
tainable Growth, Usefulness, and General Appearance. — Its Vege- 
tating Properties. — Reasons for its Non-extensive Culture. — Com- 
mon Juniper. — Its Nativity.— The Attainable Growth of Varie- 
ties. — Its Medicinal and other Properties. — How Propagated. — 
Care Necessary for the Protection of Young Plants.— The Cedran- 
tree. — Where Indigenous.— Its Antidotary Properties Page 108 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

LINDENS. 

Where Found. — Their Classification. — Quality and Durability of their 
Wood. — Their Ornamental and other Uses. — European Linden. — 
Its Principal Uses and Growth. — White Linden. — Description of 
L ea f # — Range of Growth. — A Specified Variety. — Buffalo Berry. — 
Its Attainable Height and Deportment. — How Propagated. — Its Es- 
teemed Quality and Relative Resemblance. — Quality and Useful- 
ness of its Fruit. — Manner of Planting for Fruit Production. — Ja- 
pan Sophora. — Its Nativity.— How best Propagated. — Quality of 
its Wood and for What Used.— Soil Favorable to its Thrift.— Sas- 
safras. — Its Domestic Uses. — Properties and Uses of its Wood. — 
How Propagated. — Its Ornamental Advantages 112 

CHAPTER XXV. 

LARCHES. 

The Black Larch, or Tamarack. — Its Singular Beauty, Attainable 
Height, and Appearance. — Its Range of Growth. — Soil Suited 
to its Growth, with Difference of Opinion. — Its Durability and 
Usefulness.— A Practised Fraud Unearthed. — The European Larch. 
— Its Attainable Height, Range, Rate of Growth, and General Con- 
tour. — Its Ornamental and Timber Excellence. — Durability and 
Uses of its Wood. — Larch-growing in England and Scotland. — 
Ages of Maturity. — Foreign Testimony on its Durability. — Its 
Adapted Uses. — Places Favorable to its Propagation.— Where to 
Select and Obtain Seed. — Mr. Thomas Lake's Experience in Grow- 
ing Larch 114 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE MAGNOLIAS. 

The Cucumber-tree. — Its Range and Manner of Growth. — Its At- 
tainable Height and Ornamental Character. — How Propagated. — 
Yellow Cucumber -tree. — Where Found. — Its Beauty and Or- 



CONTENTS. Xiii 

namental Character. — Quality and Durability of its Wood. — A 
Reason for its Scarcity.— Small Magnolia, Sweet Bay. — Its At- 
tainable Height. — Its Limited Range and Exceptional Ornament. 
— A Perfect Specimen Described.— How to Preserve its Seed and 
Young Plants.— Great-leaved Magnolia — Its Rarity and Remark- 
able Characteristics.— Umbrella-tree. — Its Resemblance to the Great- 
leaved Magnolia. —Its Range of Growth and Favorable Soil. — 
Its Usual Height. — Its Artistic Beauty, Odoriferous Qualities, and 
Peculiar Tendency. — Ear -leaved Magnolia, or Ear -leaved Um- 
brella-tree.— Where Found.— Its Height.— Its Pleasing and Distin- 
guishing Features. — Yulan Magnolia. — Its Foreign Nativity and 
Recent Introduction into the United States. — Its Distinctive Char- 
acter and Odoriferous Production. — The Foliage of Young Trees De- 
scribed. — Recommended Specimens. — The Conspicuous-flowered 
Magnolia. — Its Distinguishing Difference. — The Empress Alex- 
andria's Conspicuous-flowered Magnolia. — Date of Introduction 
into England. — Its Parallel of Thrift and its Floral Productiveness. 
Manner of Planting. — Magnolia Purpurea. — Its Nativity. — Color 
of Bloom.— How Grown, and Medicinal Properties Page 118 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

YELLOW "WOOD. 

Its Rarity and Limited Height. — Where Found and General Char- 
acteristics. — Manner of Preserving and Sowing its Seed. — The 
Dogwood. — Cornel Dogwood. — Its Singularity of Species and 
Diffused Growth. — Its Ornamental and Useful Advantages. — 
Method of Preparing and Sowing its Seed. — The Jamaica Dog- 
wood. — Description and Medicinal Properties. — The Date Plum. 
— Persimmon. — Its Usual Height and Size. — Peculiarities of its 
Foliage and Bark. — Effect of Frost on its Fruit. — Description 
and Uses of its Wood. — Preserving its Seed. — The Mulberry. — 
Red Mulberry. — Where Found, Attainable Height, and Manner 
of Growth. — Durability and Uses of its Wood. — Its Ornamental 
Value.— How to Obtain its Seed. — The Black Mulberry.— Its For- 
eign Origin. — Its Comparative Growth and Productiveness. — Its 
Dedication. — Weight of its Wood per Cubic Foot. — Effect of Age 
on its Fruitfulness. — The White Mulberry-tree. — Its Main Dis- 
tinguishing Feature. — Its Growth. — Countries to which Indige- 
nous. — Purpose for which Introduced into the United States, aud 
Results 123 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE BOW-WOOD, OR OSAGE ORANGE. 

Range of Growth, and Soil Favorable to its Growth. — Its Attainable 
Height. — The Incorruptible Property of its Wood. — Color of its 
Wood, Uses for which Fit, and Advantages.— Its Productiveness 



XIV CONTENTS. 

and Famed Elasticity.— Its Foliage and Fruit Described.— States 
best Suited to its Thrift. — Difference of Bearing of the Male and 
the Female Tree.— A Fruitful Yield Page 129 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE AILANTUS, OR TREE OP HEAVEN. 

Its Height, Size, and Nativity. — Its Adaptability to Arid Places, with 
Recommendation. — Manner of Growth, Description and Uses of its 
Wood. — Description of its Leaf and Flower. — When First Intro- 
duced into the United States and by Whom. — Successful Propaga- 
tion Instanced. — How Propagated 131 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE BUCKEYE. 

Similarity of Species and General Characteristics to Horse-chestnuts. 

— Horse - chestnut Buckeye. — Its Elevation and Nativity. — Its 
Manner of Growth and Soil Suited to its Growth. — Its Foliage 
and Fruit Described. — Its Ornamental Value. — Specified Vari- 
eties. — When Introduced into the United States. — Repulsiveness 
of its Leaves to Insect Ravages. — Description of its Wood. — Use 
to which Put in Europe. — Use as Recommended by Du Hamel. 

— Produce of its Bark. — Bleaching Properties of its Nut. — Its 
Artistic Beauty. — Ohio Buckeye. — Height. — For what Recom- 
mended. — Its Uselessness as a Timber Tree. — The Sweet Buck- 
eye. — Its Attainable Height. — Origin of its Name. — Uses of its 
Wood. — How Propagated. — Popularity of its Nut-husks. — The Red 
Bucke} T e. — Its Stunted Growth. — Its Floral and Odorous Proper- 
ties. — Where Found. — Effect of its Bark on Fish. — Another Use of 
its Bark. — Its Largest Specimen. — Its Supposed Nativity. — Its In- 
troduction into Britain, and Ornamental Use. — Results of Grafting. 
— An Opinion. — The Edible Buckeye Described 132 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE TUPELO. 

The Tupelo, Black Gum, or Pepperidge. — Its Variety and Allied 
Characteristics.— Their Floral Fragrance.— How Raised, Size, and 
Range of Growth. — Texture of its Wood and for What Esteemed. 
— Its Twofold Property. — Its Variety of Name. — Description of 
its Berries and their Sustaining Usefulness. — Its Attainable Height 
and Places Favorable to its Growth. — Its Uses in Virginia.— The 
Wild Lime-tree. — Its Resemblance to the Black Gum-tree, and 
Exception. — Description and Uses of its Wood. — Buoyant Prop- 
erty of its Roots. — The Esteemed Delicacy of its Fruit. — Its 
Height and Size 137 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE JUNEBERRY. 

Its Noticeable Beauty. — Its Attainable Height. — Its Floral and Fruit 
Productiveness. — Its Foliage Described. — The Non-distinctive Dif- 
ference of European and American Varieties. — Its Eange of Growth. 
— Soil and Situation Suitable to its Thrift. — Use of its Fruit. — 
The Papaw. — Its Stunted Growth.— Its Floral and Fruit-bearing 
Properties. — Its Limited Latitude of Growth. — Properties of its 
Wood and Fruit Page 139 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE CATALPA. 

Its Scattered Range, Height, and Growth.— Its Flower and Foliage 
Described. — Occurrence of its Bud and Fall of Leaf. — Its Climate 
and Thrift. — Its Self-propagating Properties.— Durability and other 
Properties of its Wood.— Its Seed Described. — Manner of Culture. 
—A New-England Specimen Described. — The Medicinal Properties 
of its Bark. — The Poisonous and Medicinal Property of its Flower. 
— Its Annual Beautifying Productiveness 141 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE HACEJ3ERRY. 

Its Attainable Height and Size. — Its Appearance and Characteristics. 
— Description and Uses of its Wood. — Its Odorous Production. — 
Its Range of Growth. — The Largest of its Species, Where Grow- 
ing. — How Propagated.— Its Enemies. — The Red-bud. — Its Stunted 
Growth. — Its Floral and Seed Productiveness. — How Propagated. 
— Similarities of its Species, and Distinguishing Features. — Use of 
its Bark. — Culinary Usefulness of its Flower, Bud, and Pod . . . 143 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE FRINGE-TREE. 

Its Limited Height. — Its Native Range and Ornamental Value. — Its 
Floral Productiveness. — Its Variety of Name. — Its Classified Be- 
longings.— Its Medicinal and other Properties— Its Possible Perfect- 
nessby Grafting. — The Iron-Wood. — Where Belonging. — Height of 
Tree, Uses and Durability of its Wood. — Manner of Growth. — Its 
Disadvantages as a Timber Tree 145 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE BUTT0NW00D, ASPEN, AND POPLAR. 

The Buttonwood or Plane-tree. — Its Extensive Range and Abundant 
Growth. — Its General Appearance and Elevation. — Its Peculiar Dis- 
advantages. — Description of its Seed and Manner of Sowing. — The 



XVI CONTENTS. 

Aspen.— Its Numerous Species and Resemblances. — Value of its 
Wood. — Disagreeable Character of its Seed. — The American Aspen. 
— Where Found and Limited Height. — Description and Uses of its 
Wood. — Its Common Characteristics. — Large Aspen. — Its Advan- 
tages. — Uses and Properties of its Wood. — Downy-leaved Poplar. 
— Its Southern Nativity. — Attainable Height and Size. — Peculiari- 
ties of its Foliage. — Its Uselessness as Lumber. — The Balsam Pop- 
lar. — Where Found and its Uselessness. — The White Poplar. — Its 
Ornamental Value. — Its other Advantages. — Its Superior Qualities 
and Chief Uses. — How Propagated and Attainable Height.Page 147 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CHERRY-TREES. 

Wild Black Cherry.— Its Native Range.— Preferred Use of its Wood. 
— Its Ornamental Character. — Its Productiveness. — Manner of 
Preserving and Sowing its Seed. — The Wild Red Cherry. — Its 
Attainable Height and Size.— Its Qualities Contrasted with the 
Black Cherry. — Description and Qualities of its Wood.— Its Spon- 
taneous Growth.— Its Special Property.— The Wild Cherry.— Its 
Medicinal Properties 150 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE WILLOWS. 

The White Willow.— Its Ornamental Value and Elevated Growth. — 
Manner of Growth and Usefulness. — Its Supposed Worthlessness 
the Result of Fraud. — Description of its Wood. — The Brittle Wil- 
low. — Its Height, Growth, Rarity, and Uses. — Weeping Willow. — 
Its Ornamental Advantages. — Places Favorable to its Growth. — 
Largest Specimens, Where Produced. — Grafting of the Kilmarnock 
and American Willow. — Shining Willow. — Its Exceeding Orna- 
ment. — Its Growth on Careful Culture. — Its Favorite Places of 
Growth.— How Recognized. — Peculiar Feature of its Leaves. . 152 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE SPRUCES. 

White Spruce. — Its Attainable Height and Size. — Its Northern Nativ- 
ity. — Principal Uses of its Wood. — The Oil Extracted from its 
Branches. — The Black Spruce. — Atmosphere Favorable to its De- 
velopment. — Its Wild Luxuriance. — Description of its Cones. — Man- 
ner of Securing its Seed.— The Red and Blue Spruces. — Their Re- 
semblance to the White Spruce. — The Norway Spruce. — Its Height. 
— Peculiarities of its Growth. — Its Age of Maturity and Where Indig- 
enous. — Its Resinous Extract. — Uses of its Bark. — Importation of 
Young Trees to England and Uses to Which Put.— Durability of its 
Wood.— Effect of Soil on the Qualities of its Wood.— Its General 



CONTENTS. Xvii 

Appearance arid Persistent Growth. — Its Usefulness as Shelter. — 
Its Properties Preferable to those of the Black Spruce. — Manner of 
Saving and Sowing its Seed. — Hemlock Spruce. — Where Indige- 
nous. — Elevation Favorable to its Thrift. — Texture and Character- 
istics of its Wood. — Peculiarities of Grain. — Its Beautifying Charac- 
ter. — Its Value Compared with other Timber Trees.— Balsam Fir. — 
Its Nativity. — Its Height and Size.— Medicinal Properties and Or- 
namental Advantages. — Fraser's Fir. — Where Found and General 
Characteristics. . , Page 154 

CHAPTER XL. 

THE DECIDUOUS CYPRESS. 

Its Ornamental Character, Southern Home, and Dispersed Growth. — 
Soil Suited to its Growth, and Attainable Height. — Peculiarities of 
its Growth. — Its Associate Tree. — Description and Properties of its 
Wood. — Its Usefulness and Indifference to Climatic Influences. — 
White and Black Cypresses. — Value of the Cypress. — Its Seed. — 
Manner of Sowing and Cultivating 158 

CHAPTER XLI. 

THE AMERICAN ARBOR-VITJE. 

Its Northern Home. — Its Favorite Soil. — Its Attainable Height and 
Size. — Uses and Properties of its Wood. — Its Ornamental Advan- 
tages. — Manner of Planting Explained. — Its Varieties. — Important 
Varieties. — Its Medicinal Properties 160 

CHAPTER XLII. 

THE YEW. 

The English Yew. — Its Foreign Origin. — Its Famed Longevity. — 
Its Symbolic Uses. — The Immensity of its Foliage. — Properties 
and Uses of its Wood. — Its Latitude of Thrift. — American Yew, or 
Ground Hemlock. — Its Stunted Growth, and Semi-evergreen Prop- 
erties. — Effect of Cultivation on its Growth. — Its Artistic Advan- 
tages , 162 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE BOX-TREE AND HOLLY. 

The Box-tree. — Its Foreign Origin. — Its Western Attainments. — Its 
Usual Height. — Quality, Property, and Uses of its Wood. — Adapta- 
bility of its Foliage to Fantastic Designings. — How Propagated. — 
Winter Preservation of the Dwarf Species. — The Holly. — Its Va- 
rieties. — The American Variety Considered. — Its Range of Growth 

and Favorite Soil. — Its Ornamental Perfection 164 

A* 



XV111 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE LAUREL. 

The American Laurel. — Density of its Growth.— Its Resemblance to 
the Box. — A Name Derived from its Uses. — Description and Prop- 
erties of its Wood. — Soil and Climate of Thrift. — Its Seed and Flow- 
er Described. — Care Necessary to its Raising. — Sheep Laurel. — A 
Contrasted Difference. — Properties of its Leaves. — The Great Lau- 
rel. — Region of its Abundance. — Climate and Situation Congenial 
to its Growth. — Its Attained Height.— Its Floral Productiveness. — 
The Rose Bay. — Its Elevated Home. — Its Diminutive Height. — Its 
Beautifying Advantages. — Soil Unfavorable to its Thrift. — The 
Carolina Laurel Described and Qualified Page 166 

CHAPTER XLV. 

TIMBER TREES. 

List of the most Valuable Timber Trees in the United States, and their 
Suitable Climate. — Coniferous Trees. — Number of Seeds to the 
Pound of Each Species 169 

CHAPTER XL VI. 

THE EUCALYPTUS, OR THE FEVER- TREE. 

Its Nativity. — When Discovered, and by Whom. — When Introduced 
into France. — Its Medicinal Qualities, and by Whom Discovered. 
— Its Antiseptic Properties. — The Healthful Results of its Planting 
in Malarial Districts. — Its Tour of Travel and Introduction into 
America. — Eucalyptus -planting by the Trappist Monks, and Ex- 
pected Results. — Record of the Eucalyptus as a Disinfectant. — In- 
stanced Results of its Antiseptic and Disinfecting Properties. — Eu- 
calyptus-planting in New Orleans, and Healthful Results. — The 
Eucalyptus as a Preventive against Yellow and Jungle Fever, and 
Efforts for its Introduction into India. — Experience of English Tree- 
growers in Raising the Eucalyptus. — Its Destined Future. — Climate 
Best Suited to its Growth. — Its Successful Raising on the Pacific 
Coast. — Experiments on the Virtues of the Eucalyptus and Results 
in Detail. — Its Odorous Properties. — Its Other Uses. — Eucalyptus- 
planting in California, and Probable Returns. — An Opinion in Re- 
gard to the Southern and Southwestern States 171 

CHAPTER XLVIL 

THE OAK. 

Its Rank among Trees. — Procuring and Sowing its Seed. — The Bun- 
Oak. — Its Attainable Growth. — Description of the Burr Oak as 
given by Dr. P. R. Hoy. — Its General Appearance and Beautify- 
ing Character. — Durability of its Wood. — Manner of Growth. — 



CONTENTS. Xix 

Its Utility and Ornament.— Its Abundance and Distribution.— Its 
Zone of Thrift. — Characteristics of its Foliage. — Conditions by 
which to Distinguish Species. — Opinions on Transplanting. — The 
White Oak, the Post Oak, the Swamp Chestnut Oak, the Black 
Oak, the Scarlet Oak, the lied Oak, the Pin Oak, the Willow Oak, 
the Laurel Oak, the Black-Jack Oak, the Spanish Oak, and the Live- 
Oak Separately and Variously Described Page 179 

CHAPTER XL VIII. 

THE BERBERRY. 

Its Attainable Growth under Culture.— The Common Berberry.— Its 
Ornamental Value and Manner of Training. — Its Thrift and General 
Appearance. — Where Indigenous.— Soil Suitable to its Thrift. — Its 
Floral and Fruit Productiveness. — Uses of its Fruit and Leaves. — 
Medicinal and other Properties of its Bark.— A Prejudice against it. 
— Varieties and Original Species, How Raised. — Berberisaquifolium. 
— Its Beauty. — Its Range of Growth and High Altitude of Thrift. — 
Quality and Color of its Fruit. — Its Botanical Description. — Medic- 
inal Properties of its Root. — Its Medicinal Extracts, and Complaints 
for which Prescribed. — Medicinal Properties of its Berries 184 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE BUCKTHORN. 

Its Growth and General Appearance. — Its Floral and Fruit Productive- 
ness. — Medicinal and other Uses of its Berries. — Its Ornamental 
Value. — Its Suitability as a Hedge-plant. — How Propagated, and 
Manner of Culture and Training. — Its other Characteristics. . . 187 

CHAPTER L. 

THE GORDONIA. 

The Woolly-flowered Gordonia.— Its Attainable Height. — Its Southern 
Nativity. — Its General Appearance Described. — Description and 
Uses of its Bark and Wood. — Its Botanical Description. — Its Agree- 
able Floral Production. — Soil Suited to its Thrift. — Its Artificial 
Raising. — How Propagated. — The Pubescent-leaved Gordonia. — 
Where Indigenous. — Its Ornamental Value and Extensive Culture. 
— Its Floral Bearing. — Its Foliage Described 189 

CHAPTER LI. 

THE PRIDE OP INDIA. 

Its Climate of Thrift, and Attainable Growth. — Its Beautifying and 
Ornamental Elegance. — Its Diffused Existence. — Opinions as to its 
Nativity. — How Propagated and Manner of Culture. — Its Favorite 
Soil. — Description of its Leaf, Flower, and Fruit. — Medicinal Prop- 
erties of its Berries. — Description and Uses of its Wood.— Its Seed, 
How Obtained 191 



XX CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LII. 

THE MAHOGANY-TREE. 

Where Indigenous. — Its Primitive Nativity. — Its General Physique De- 
scribed. — Its Floral Productiveness. — Peculiarity of its Seed. — A 
Reason for its Dispersed Existence.— Season for Felling. — Varieties, 
and Renowned Uses of its Wood. — Unseasonable Felling, and Pre- 
cautionary Measures to Prevent Irnperfectness. — Date when Intro- 
duced into England. — An Interesting Account of its Introduction. 
—Effect of Soil and Climate on the Texture of its Wood.— Its Du- 
rability. — Its Present Uses. — Dimensions of Exported Logs and their 
Value.— Method of Test for Soundness in Logs.— How the Mahog- 
any became Naturalized to the Eastern Hemisphere. — A Species of 
the Burman Forests. — Its Characteristics Compared with those of its 
American Cousin Page 193 

CHAPTER LIIL 

GRAPE-VINES. 

The American Wild Vine.— Attention Paid to its Classification.— Dis- 
tinctive Characteristics of Species. — Delicacy of their Habit.— Traits 
of Good Quality of the Grape - vine. — Where Indigenous. — Its 
General Bearing. — The Celebrated Varieties of North America. — 
Their Favored Qualities. — Collective Sketches of the Qualities and 
Properties of the most Hardy Varieties. — Manner of Planting the 
Grape-vine, and After-Management 197 

CHAPTER LIV. 

THE COMMON APPLE-TREE. 

Diffusion of the Common Apple-tree.— Period of Cultivation in the 
United States.— Its Original Nativity.— Its Wild Thrift and Gen- 
eral Deportment. — The Many Varieties of its Parentage. — Hinder- 
ances to its Longevity.— Exceptional Trees, Where Grown. — Soil 
and Situation Necessary to Perfect its Productiveness. — How 
Propagated. — Management Necessary when Propagating from 
Seed 202 

CHAPTER LV. 

THE GOLDEN ORANGE-TREE. 

Doubts of the Nativity of the Golden Orange-tree.— Its Believed Ori- 
gin. — Where Abounding in the United States, and by Whom Intro- 
duced.— Record of its Early Notice.— Its Attainable Height under 
Culture.— Its Majestic Bearing and Floral and Fruit Productiveness. 
— Its Many Varieties Variously Described and Qualified.— Soil and 
Climate Suited to its Thrift.— How Propagated.— Manner of Rais- 
ing from Cuttings. — Uses for which Principally Cultivated. — De- 
scription and Usefulness of its Wood.— Its Greatest Enemy. . . 205 



CONTENTS. xxi 

CHAPTER LVI. 

PROPAGATION OP TREES. 

Propagating. — Contrast of Theory and Practical Knowledge.— Meth- 
ods of Propagating. — Varieties from Original Species, How Pro- 
duced. — Seeding. — Time and Manner of Sowing, with Necessary 
Considerations. — Preparation of the Soil. — Cuttings. — What they 
Are. — When, Where, and What to Select. — Period of Longevity, 
How Ascertained. — Cause of Decay in Cuttings. — Characteristics of 
their Growth. — How Set Out. — Evergreens. — When Propagated 
from Cuttings. — Necessary Precautious. — Layering. — Origin of 
Method. — Governing Laws of Growth in Layers. — Methods of 
Layering Described.— Budding. — Inserted and Annular Budding, 
How Performed. — Object of the Methods. — Seasonable Time for 
Operating.— Grafting. — The Splice, Saddle, and Cleft Modes Sepa- 
rately Explained. — Pruning. — The Object of Pruning and the Ben- 
efits Effected thereby Page 210 

CHAPTER LV1I. 

ON PLANTING. 

What to Plant.— Preparation of the Soil. — Influence of Soil, Situa- 
tion, and Climate on Certain Species. — Dr. John A. Warden's 
Facts in Connection with Tree-planting. — Congenial Soil of Spe- 
cies. — On Natural and Artificial Grouping. — Dispersion of Spe- 
cies, to What Due. — Base of Successful Forestry. — Combined Spe- 
cies and Obnoxious Exceptions. — On Planting for Shelter-hedge or 
Screen. — Species Adapted to each Purpose. — On Planting Hill- 
sides. — A Philosophical Suggestion. — The Notching or Pitting 
Process for the Production of Stock Plants. — Separated Existence 
of Certain Species, and Care Necessary to their Successful Produc- 
tion. — Nurses. — What they Are. — Uses for which Designed. — Spe- 
cies most Easily Produced or Obtained. — Manner of Planting, and 
their Utility. — Nurses in Use for Specified Species. — Nurses as a 
Source of Profit. — On Close Planting and its Resulting Economy. 
— Rapidity of Growth of Hardy Trees. — Transplanting Seedlings. 
— Transplanting Trees of Large Size 226 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

medicinal properties of the trees of the united states. . 243 

Index 253 



INTRODUCTION. 



I believe in God and my country. And if, after an 
implicit faith in an All-wise Providence, there is any one 
thing more than another on which I rely, it is the wis- 
dom and prudence of the American people. The seed 
from the rude sowing of the colonies which hewed out 
the magnificent states of the East, and established a free 
and independent government, will never be found want- 
ing in anything which goes to make up a truly great na- 
tion. From my earliest youth my voice has ever been 
raised against the destruction of the forests of America ; 
but, lost amid the whir of saws and the resounding stroke 
of axes, it was too weak to be heard, until now, the day 
of reckoning having come, we must dispassionately con- 
sider the evil done, and take measures to remedy it in 
the future. It is the disposition of our people not to 
take heed of the future, but only to enjoy the present. 
While the forests of America lasted they could not and 
would not believe the day would ever come when they 
would have need of them. But now they see more clear- 
ly, and look with dismay on the ruin which their own 
hands have wrought. To all I would say, be not dis- 
couraged, for it is still possible to undo in a great meas- 
ure the evils of the past, but it will require all of our pa- 
tience and wisdom, and much more than was ever ex- 
hibited by our fathers. 



XXIV INTRODUCTION". 

To destroy the forests of America has been a brief 
work ; to replant and reproduce them will be the labor 
of forty generations, but it can be done. I have written 
many books and submitted them to my countrymen for 
their approval, but never have I approached a subject 
with such diffidence and consciousness of my inability 
to cope with it as the one treated of in the following 
pages. 

When I learned to love the trees I cannot remember, 
but I was born under the spurs of the Alleghanies, and 
passed my infancy in the umbrageous shade of their 
wide -spreading pines. I fished and hunted along the 
streams, and she who is the mother of my children often 
accompanied me in my rambles through the grand old 
mountain forests of Pennsylvania. How beautiful these 
mountains were, with their coats of pine, green as the 
sea ! Shade so deep and dark it seemed like night on the 
brightest day ; babbling brooks with sly little nooks by 
bits of grass, and deep, cool pools where the hermit trout 
lay. Here was a mossy glen and there a waterfall, yon- 
der a clambering vine in many a wild festoon, and at 
our feet a bed of moss softer than down. If we turned 
over a rock in the mountain's side we found ice beneath 
it even in the hottest days of August. Then there were 
caves, deep, dark, and cool, filled with ice on the sides 
dripping with cold water, and stalactites shining over- 
head. How I remember stealing away and hiding in 
one of these caves, years and years ago, while the boys 
brought our brave mountain girls to see it ; and when I 
roared like a bear how they ran like frightened fawns, 
a white dress glinting here and there through the forest, 
until all were lost to view in the distance, and Annie 
Berry sprained her foot so terribly on that day she was 



INTRODUCTION. XXV 

laid up for weeks, and the old doctor shook his cane and 
threatened what he would do if ever we frightened An- 
nie again — all of which we knew was talk, for the doctor 
loved us too well to harm a hair on our young heads. It 
was rude, wild sport, and my mind goes back lovingly 
on a hot August day to the Bear Meadows, Galbraith's 
Gap, Snowshoe, Pleasant Gap, and the big mountains 
with their coats of pine. 

There are no prettier spots on earth than those near 
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, where I was born. Accustomed 
from infancy to look upon these wild mountains and 
grand old woods, they became common in my eyes, and, 
as naturally might be expected, were not appreciated. 
Much as I loved the trees and mountains, I never fully 
realized what beautiful things they were until after I 
came to the plains. For days and days I travelled over 
the level, arid, treeless prairie, often looking back at night 
to the place where we had started out in the morning, 
and which seemed scarcely 'ten miles distant, but was in 
reality over thirty. Every traveller has experienced the 
wonderfully deceptive distances of the plains. Often 
you would wager you could ride or walk to some dis- 
tant mountain in a few hours, but you journey on for 
days and days, and still its barren sides and bald peaks 
loom up apparently as far off as when you started out. 
To the man who has been raised in the mountains the 
absence of trees on vast level Hats becomes most pain- 
ful, and his eyes are constantly unconsciously seeking 
for a rock, a vine, a tree, a green mountain, or a shady 
glen where he can lie down and rest. Land ; land every- 
where, and the sky shut down in great circles upon the 
level, burning plain. I never could get used to stretch- 
ing my little piece of canvas to make a shade ; it seemed 
B 



XXVI INTRODUCTION. 

so unnatural, so useless, and, indeed, was no shade at all 
if compared with the cool depths of the forest. A blaz- 
ing sun overhead, a hot sand on the earth, and only a 
narrow strip of cloth between — that is not what the 
mountain man calls shelter. How often in those hot 
days did I long for the green mountains, mossy glens, 
and cool streams of the grand old woods where I was 
born. 

For four years I had lived on the plains surrounded 
by sage-brush and sand, never once seeing a mountain 
or forest. Then I was ordered east with troops, to Ken- 
tucky. We had been running very fast all night in the 
cars, and in the morning, just as I was washing in the 
sleeping-car, I heard the soldiers in the forward coaches 
cheering. I asked the conductor what was the matter, 
and he replied, " The soldiers are cheering the trees." 
We all hastened to the doors and windows, and there, 
sure enough, found we were running through a grand 
old Kentucky forest, and it was indeed a most beautiful 
sight. It had rained the night before, and the dripping 
trees shone like silver in the newly -risen sun. Grape 
vines hung in heavy festoons from the arms of giant 
oaks, woodbines wound about their trunks ; the grass on 
the earth was green as an emerald, and. so clean I longed 
to jump from the cars, lie down on it, and roll over and 
over and shout for very joy. 

" Thank God for noble trees, 

How stately, strong, and grand 
These bannered giants lift their crests 
O'er all this beauteous land." 

The sight of a forest in the early morning, when the 
dew is on the grass and leaves, is at all times beautiful. 
Even those who have been used all their lives to such 



INTRODUCTION. XXvii 

magnificent scenes are startled occasionally into an ap- 
preciation of their beauty ; how then to us who had 
not seen for years a great tree seemed the forest ! It 
was beautiful beyond description, and even the children 
clapped their little hands and cried out, " Oh, mamma, 
see the pretty trees !" I saw a squirrel leap from the 
grass and run up the trunk of a gnarled oak that per- 
haps kept silent watch over the grave of some sav- 
age warrior, who in his day had been a mighty man. 
There were great gothic forest aisles, and through the 
grained and graceful roof of leaves millions of sunbeams 
shimmered down, lighting up the dark recesses of the 
woods until the whole resembled some vast cathedral 
pile. 

I compared this scene with those which I had wit- 
nessed a thousand times in my boyhood and yet thought 
nothing of them. It was then I realized fully, possibly 
for the first time, the beauty and value of woods and 
mountains. Ever since then I have been pleading, 

" Oh, woodman, spare that tree, 
Touch not a single bough ; 
In youth it sheltered me, 
And I'll protect it now." 

Not only did I determine to become the friend of 
the bannered giants that lift their heads to the sky, 
but to urge the planting of new forests everywhere, 
and, if possible, cover the barren plains of the West 
with woods. 

Many writers had preceded me, but they all seemed 
defective in not pointing out how forest-trees could be 
reproduced. These writers were eloquent in their de- 
nunciation of forest destruction, but pointed out no reme- 
dy for the evil. I said I will study the lives of the trees, 



XXV1U INTRODUCTION. 

and take up the subject where others have laid it down, 
showing how to cultivate and grow forest-trees as fruit- 
trees are now grown. 

I soon found the task I had set myself was a most 
difficult one, for there were no forest-tree nurserymen, 
and no one willing to become such. They only laughed 
at the idea of planting oaks, elms, pines, and such " wild 
trees " as they called them. When the facts were sought 
to be laid before the people they too laughed at me, and 
the newspapers called me an alarmist, and scoffed at the 
idea of our forests giving out, or new ones being planted. 
I was recommended to sow the Alleghany Mountains 
with clover-seed, and plant the fence corners with sassa- 
fras for old women's tea. My articles were denounced 
as the impracticable vaporings of a madman, and I was 
even refused a hearing by such respectable journalists as 
J. W. Forney and Morton McMichael. A few thinking 
men, however, saw in the subject more than was indi- 
cated on the surface, and they slowly came to the sup- 
port of our projects. One of the earliest to take up his 
pen and help was the late William Cullen Bryant, the 
greatest of our American poets. Then came his amiable 
and able nephew, Charles Bryant, with his excellent book 
on " Forest Trees," and Browne, with his elaborate work 
on " Trees of America.' George Pinney of Wisconsin fol- 
lowed, establishing his " Tree Grower," and later, James 
T. Allen wrote and published his pamphlet on " Forest 
Growing in Nebraska," and then came J. F. Tallant of 
Iowa, George W. Minor of Illinois, Herman Trott of Min- 
nesota, E. S. Ellicott of Missouri, Daniel Milliken of Ohio, 
Honorable Calvin Chambers of Maine, J. Sterling Mor- 
ton of Nebraska, and others. This able corps of writers 
and workers soon silenced the scoffers at American for- 



INTRODUCTION. XXIX 

estry, and awakened an interest among the people in the 
subject of tree-growing. The newspapers were slow to 
advocate it, but at last, when the New York World led 
off, it was followed by hundreds of papers all over the 
country. 

The pioneer state in the great work of forest-tree plant- 
ing was Nebraska, and this state, once called " the tree- 
less state," is now nearly covered over with young for- 
ests. It will soon be as well timbered as any state from 
Maine to California. Last year the Nebraskians set out 
fifteen millions of forest-trees, this year eighteen mill- 
ions, and next } T ear they will plant over twenty millions. 
Such enormous plantings cannot but be productive of 
great results to the state, and already a change has taken 
place in the climate and rainfall. Mr. J. Sterling Morton 
invented what he called " Arbor Day," and had it legal- 
ized as a holiday. Every year, about the middle of April, 
the governor of the state issues a proclamation announc- 
ing the day, and on its recurrence the entire population 
cease from their labor and engage in planting trees. Tins 
custom is not new. The Germans have a pretty habit 
of each member of a family living in the rural districts 
planting a tree at Wissuntide, which comes forty days 
after Easter. Also at early dawn on the same day their 
singing societies march to the top of the nearest hill or 
mountain, and hail the rising sun with songs and pecans 
of praise for the glory of its warmth and blessing to 
Ceres and Flora. The old Mexican Indians also plant 
trees on certain days of the year when the moon is full, 
and name them after their children. The Aztecs used 
to plant a tree every time a child was born, and it bore 
the name of the child. In the State of Nebraska the 
governor each year offers a large reward to the family 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

that will set out the greatest number of forest - trees. 
When I was there it was $500 for the first premium, 
$400 for the second, and so on down to $25. Even the 
women and children could earn premiums, medals, and 
diplomas, and great was the competition for these re- 
wards of the state. The results of all have been wonder- 
ful. Patches of timber have sprung up everywhere, and 
where a few years ago only the naked plain was seen, 
now waves a goodly forest. Trees ten and twelve years 
old are thirty feet high, and eight to ten inches in diame- 
ter. It may be remarked that forest-trees grow in the 
West with wonderful rapidity, and if care were taken in 
planting them, all the vast flats from the Missouri River 
to the Rocky Mountains would soon be covered with 
forests and farms. It has been demonstrated in Utah 
and other places that sage-brush land, when irrigated, 
produces twenty-five, thirty, and even forty bushels of 
wheat per acre. In Colorado I have seen fifty bushels of 
wheat per acre cut from land which, before it was ir- 
rigated, looked like a worthless gravel-heap. 

As an evidence of the rapidity with which trees grow, 
Mr. James T. Allen of Nebraska says : William Hollen- 
beck has two hundred acres of timber, mostly ash, planted 
from seedlings in 1861, and the trees now measure thirty- 
five inches in circumference, and are over forty feet high. 
Mr. Hollenbeck also has forty acres of black walnut 
planted in 1865, and many of the trees now measure 
thirty -five inches in circumference, and are forty -five 
feet high. Some of them bore nuts four years from the 
planting. 

There are soft maples growing in Omaha, Nebraska, 
which at fourteen years of age were forty-three inches 
in circumference, and forty-five feet high. Two speci- 



INTRODUCTION. XXXI 

mens of elms in Douglas County, planted in 1859, were 
six years ago thirty-eight inches in circumference four 
feet from the ground, and over thirty feet high. A honey 
locust planted at Omaha, at thirteen years old was thirty- 
four feet high, and measured thirty -five inches in cir- 
cumference four feet from the ground. Cotton-woods in 
Douglas County, Nebraska, thirteen years old measured 
twenty-two inches in diameter, and were forty -five feet 
high. A box elder, growing in my yard at Omaha Ear- 
racks, shot up in a single season seven feet. Judge 
Crounse had a tree that grew seven feet for three con- 
secutive years. All the trees about Omaha Barracks 
while I was stationed there grew from five to seven feet 
annually. Many more instances of the rapid growth 
of trees might be given for the encouragement of tree- 
planting, but these Avill suffice here, and those who are 
curious to learn can read, further on in the pages of this 
book, hundreds of instances. 

What conies of tree-planting is profit, honor, health, 
and wealth. The progress made by the friends of for- 
estry in America during the past few years is a matter 
of great congratulation to them. This year we have 
had a Forestry Congress well attended ; Honorable John 
Sherman of Ohio has brought forward a healthy forest 
bill, which will be sure to pass at the next meeting 
of Congress, and the people of the country everywhere 
are awakening to the importance of both forest-saving 
and forest -planting. To aid in a humble way this 
good work the following pages are written, and if they 
shall make for the trees one true friend I shall esteem 
myself repaid for writing them. In closing this part 
of my work it will only be proper for me to make 
my most humble acknowledgment to Charles Bryant, 



XXxii INTRODUCTION. 

D. J. Browne, Andrew S. Fuller, James T. Allen, and 
others for valuable assistance. Without the aid of their 
works this book could not have been prepared. 

James S. Brisbin, 

U. S. Army. 
Fort Keogh, Montana. 



TREES AND TKEE-PLANTING. 



CHAPTEE I. 

FOREST DESTRUCTION. 



Effect of Forest Destruction upon a Country. — Effects Produced in 
Europe and Asia. — The Ancient Habitableness of those Regions 
Contrasted with Modern Barrenness and Unproductiveness. — For- 
ests as an Essential to Industry and Comfort. — Dependence of Man- 
kind on Wood. — A Consideration for Future Wants. — Telling Re- 
sults of the Wilful Waste of the. Atlantic States Forests. — Manner 
of Meeting the Question of Wholesale Destruction. — System of 
Forest Management in France and Germany. — The Unprotected 
State of American Forests generally. — The Forest Regions of the 
Northwest, and a Suggestion for their Preservation. 

I have tried for years, in the best way I knew how, to 
get something definite done to save our forests and re- 
plant those destroyed, but the work has been very dis- 
couraging. 

The waste of timber still goes steadily on, especially 
in the Western States, and is each year increasing as the 
forests diminish. Forests are felled, and a man cuts 
down a tree that his own lifetime and that of all his 
children added together could not reproduce, yet he 
thinks no more of his act of vandalism than he would 
if he were removing a stone, a brier, or a dirt-pile. He 
does not cut it down because he needs the fuel or wants 
the lumber, but because it is hanclv, or because he fancies 
1 



2 TREES AND TKEE-PLANTING. 

it shades the ground too much, or he wants to get a 
bird's nest that is on it, a few nuts a squirrel has hid 
away in it, a coon off it, or some chestnuts. Any ex- 
cuse in the world serves as sufficient cause to justify his 
act of vandalism, and the axe is laid without mercy to 
the root of the tree. If these individual acts of vandal- 
ism were all we had to contend with we might rest easy ; 
but every year great companies with ponderous mills go 
to the heart of our forests and fell thousands of trees 
that have been hundreds of years growing. One firm 
alone in a western state runs two hundred saws. No 
less than 1,030,000,000 feet of lumber were cut in a sin- 
gle year in the State of Wisconsin. At the present rate 
ten, or at most twenty, years will see the end, and the 
forests of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin will have 
been destroyed. Fifty thousand acres of Wisconsin tim- 
ber are annually swept away to supply the Kansas and 
Nebraska markets alone. New York has lost her maple, 
walnut, hickory, and has no big woods left worthy the 
name of forest, unless it is her Adirondacks. How long 
she will keep it is a question. In Pennsylvania the 
forests, except small portions of the Alleghanies, have 
been destroyed. All the remaining regions have been 
bought up by speculators, and the trees are merely held 
for a higher market. The fires and the saw -mills will 
soon do the work, and America become a treeless region. 
What difference will it make? ask the careless. A 
great deal, for with the destruction of timber goes away 
much of the usefulness of the country. Did you ever 
see a treeless land, or have you ever read about one ? If 
not, ask travellers, or read carefully the histories of the 
Eoman Empire, Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, and portions 
of Italy. All these regions were once timbered coun- 
tries and richly productive. Now they are horrible des- 
erts, seamed with ravines and gullies, piled with ridges 
of sand, utterly incapable of reproducing the wood which 
once covered them. Behold the naked rocks and barren 



FOEEST DESTEUCTION. 3 

wastes of Mount Lebanon made famous by the life of 
our Saviour. From these mountains once came the tim- 
ber to supply the surrounding countries ; it has long 
since disappeared, and with it the population. Other 
causes no doubt assisted to desolate these countries, but, 
says Marsh : " the destruction of the forests was the chief 
cause of the present barrenness." I doubt if man can 
exist in any country entirely destitute of timber. As 
countries entirely covered with timber are fit only for 
the abode of savages, so countries entirely denuded of 
timber become fit only for wild beasts and uncivilized 
people. Nature seems to have designed that there should 
be a happy medium in this respect which we cannot 
disregard without bringing upon ourselves evil conse- 
quences. Either extreme produces a like effect — the 
total destruction of forests unfits a country for the abode 
of civilized man, while the clothing of it in impenetrable 
forests does the same. Look at the country around the 
Mediterranean Sea, once the most populous in the world. 
Compare the descriptions of ancient writers with what 
is said of it to-dajr. Marsh says : " The vast forests have 
disappeared from the mountain spurs and ridges ; the 
vegetable earth accumulated beneath the trees by the 
decay of leaves and fallen trunks ; the soil of the Alpine 
pastures which skirted and indented the woods, and the 
mould of the uplands are washed away ; the meadows 
once fertilized by irrigation are waste and unproductive, 
because the cisterns and reservoirs that supplied the an- 
cient canals are broken, or the springs that fed them 
dried up ; rivers famous in history and song have shrunk 
to humble brooklets ; the willows that ornamented and 
protected the banks of the lesser watercourses are gone, 
and the rivulets have ceased to exist as perennial cur- 
rents, because the little water that finds its way into their 
old channels is evaporated by droughts of summer, or ab- 
sorbed by parched earth before it reaches the lowlands ; 
the beds of the brooks have widened into broad expanses 



4 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

of sand and gravel, over which, though, in the hot season 
we passed dry-shod ; in winter sealike torrents thunder ; 
the entrances of navigable streams are obstructed by 
sand-bars ; and harbors once marts of an extensive com- 
merce are shoaled by deposits of the rivers at whose 
mouths they lie." 

If we admit that trees are an essential to civilization, 
we may as well at once say man cannot advance in im- 
provement beyond the rudest form of pastoral life with- 
out the use of timber. Even in this age of iron, steel, 
and coal, we can hardly estimate our dependence upon 
wood. The pen we write with is held by a wooden 
handle ; the chair we sit upon is made of wood, the floor 
beneath our feet is of wood, and the building in which 
we live (except possibly the walls) is of wood. This ma- 
terial enters into every want of our lives, and contributes 
daily and hourly to our convenience. The question natu- 
rally arises, "Will our countrymen go on destroying an ar- 
ticle of such absolute necessity, without some regard to 
the source of a future supply? As for others I know 
not, but as for myself I say no ; we will stop this wan- 
ton destruction of the beautiful trees at once, and so use 
them as to leave a portion for our children when we are 
gone. 

In some of the older states the want of timber is al- 
ready severely felt. Hills and mountains once covered 
with beautiful forests are bald and unsightly. The 
streams that once turned the mills to denude these for- 
ests have dried up, or shrunk away to inconsiderable 
rivulets. It cannot be otherwise, with our rapidly in- 
creasing millions, than that the demand for timber will 
increase, and the destruction go on rather than diminish. 
I see no way but to meet this question with sturdy laws. 
In Germany, France, and some other countries of Eu- 
rope the forests are the property of the government. 
Their management has been reduced to a system, and 
they are guarded with the greatest care from wanton 



FOREST DESTRUCTION. 5 

destruction. In our own country I doubt if a like sys- 
tem would work well. The government of the United 
States has never yet protected its forests, and I doubt if 
it ever will. Perhaps the better plan would be to turn 
over the whole question of forestry to the several states 
and territories of the Union. Timber growing on pub- 
lic lands is everywhere so generally considered as fair 
game that possibly the government cannot protect it. 
It did not, or could not, protect the live-oak woods of 
Florida intended for the use of the navy ; it did not pro- 
tect its forests in Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota, and 
it is not to-day protecting its woods in Montana or Wash- 
ington Territories. The Congress either does not wish 
to be bothered with the subject of forestry or does not 
care about it. If it does not then desire to undertake 
it, will it not give it up and let the states and territories 
try their hand at forest -saving? We have one great 
belt of timber (the last in the United States) still unde- 
stroyed. This magnificent body lies in the Territories 
of Montana and Washington, and the State of Oregon. 
It would be a pity to wantonly destroy it, and I believe 
the people of the West and their legislatures would pro- 
tect it if it was transferred to them. At all events, is 
not the experiment worth trying in Washington Terri- 
tory, at least, where the great red-fir forests exist. I 
make the suggestion for what it is worth, not knowing 
if it would work well or not. Certain it is, the old sys- 
tem will not do, and, if continued, the destruction of tim- 
ber will go on increasing with the lapse of years, until 
the whole country is depleted of its woodlands, and vast 
sections rendered hopelessly barren and sterile. 



CHAPTEE II. 

CONSEQUENCES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 

The Wasteful Havoc of Forest-lands, and its Serious Consequences. — 
The Indifference Manifested towards Remedying the Evil. — The 
Action of Public Corporations on Forest-lands. — The Efforts of Dr. 
Drake to Protect Forests.— The Evil Consequences of Non-atten- 
tion. — Probable Date of a Timber Famine in the United States. — 
The Inherited Duties of Americans. — The Destined Uses of Nat- 
ure's Growth.— Fencing and Railroad Interests as a Means of For- 
est Destruction.— Annual Destruction and Replacement Contrasted. 
— Convincing Necessaries. 

THE WASTEFUL HAVOC WHICH IS BEING WORKED IN THE 
WEST, AND THE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. 

" Our National Legislature," tritely observes Bryant, 
" is almost wholly indifferent to the fate of our forests, 
and betrays a destitution of statesmanlike forecast that 
is painful." If this were all it would not be so bad ; but, 
aside from their indifference, the Congress is constantly 
squandering large bodies of our forest-lands on public 
corporations who are obtaining them only for profit, 
and who will destroy them with more rapacity even 
than private individuals. Candidly, I believe that very 
many of our Congressmen do not credit the statements 
and theories that, by denuding a country of its forests, 
you can injure its productiveness. Some of them have 
lived a great many years, and as yet have seen no evil 
effects from the cutting down of forests, nor have they 
experienced any scarcity of fire-wood at home. Wise 
men _t them there is no other land than Spain, and no 
other age than that in which they live. It is now near- 
ly fifty years since Dr. Drake of Cincinnati proposed to 



CONSEQUENCES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 1 

Congress the importance of saving our forests. Failing 
in this, he begged the government to at least reserve 
tracts of woodland around the head-waters of the prin- 
cipal streams, as a means of preventing their diminu- 
tion. The wise doctor was poohed at, and thought a 
little cracked. Well, some of the streams he proposed to 
save are almost valueless, and in a half -century more will 
be entirely useless for purposes of navigation. Probably 
the doctor did not anticipate that the time would come 
when these reserves would become important as a source 
of timber supply ; and if he had proposed such a thing 
he would have been laughed at outright. It is needless 
to say that Congress disregarded Dr. Drake's advice, and 
to-day the children of the very men who poohed at 
the doctor are suffering for the follies of their fathers. 
Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania are practically 
ruined as timber states, and their streams are gradually 
drying up. In twenty-five years more the Northwestern 
States will be as bad, or even worse off for timber than 
the Eastern States are, and in twenty-five years more the 
timber famine in the United States will begin. Good, 
say the Congressmen and timber vandals of to-day, we 
shall be dead by that time, and why should we care 
what happens then ? Americans owe more than any 
other people on earth to the toils, sacrifices, and fore- 
thought of their forefathers, and it is their duty — every 
man's duty — to transmit the inheritance they received 
from them to their descendants unimpaired by waste or 
neglect. Says Bryant : " The length of time required for 
the growth of timber from the seed to maturity shows 
conclusively that it was never destined in the order of 
nature for the exclusive use of a single generation." 
Nor is this all. The man who wantonly destroys that 
which he cannot reproduce in his lifetime is not only 
a coward and a fool, but he commits a flagrant crime 
against nature and nature's God. I never see a man 
cutting down a fine tree but I feel like crying out, 



8 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

" Stop thief ! ! !" What is his life as compared to the 
life of the tree ? If he were immediately to plant an- 
other, not in his lifetime, in that of his children or his 
children's children, would the tree attain to maturity. 
All this he knows, yet he fells it to the earth and does not 
even plant another to replace it for future generations. 
Is not this man a vandal ? Surely ; and worse, for he is 
a criminal, and his seed shall suffer for his sins. If the 
trees could talk, what a pitiful tale they would tell. How 
they had for ages drawn moisture from the earth and 
distributed it through ten thousand leaves into the air, 
to descend again in showers, refreshing the earth and 
watering the gentle flowers. Even the tiny blades of 
green grass would cry out, 

" Oh, woodman; spare that tree, 
Touch not a single bough." 

But they must perish from the earth; the fiat has 
gone forth, and we shall soon be able to say no more : 

"Thank God for noble trees! 

How stately, strong, and grand 
These bannered giants lift their crests 
O'er all this beauteous land." 

They will be cut down and gone; and the shifting 
sands alone will mark where they once stood. The 
bleakness and barrenness of death will cover the earth, 
the sun pour down his vertical rays, and the scorching 
winds unchecked howl over the sterile plains. 

I fear you will think I am becoming excited over this 
subject, and I do warm up a little when speaking or 
writing of the murder of the beautiful trees, which in 
atrocity is little short of human murder itself. But it is 
not fine phrases or grandiloquent expressions we want 
in this case, but facts, cold arguments, to convince the un- 
reasoning and the ignorant. The voracious monster who 
threatens to devour all our young timber in his insatiable 
maw are the railroad interests of the United States. 



CONSEQUENCES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 9 

Last year there were 101,000 miles of railway in this 
country, and this year we are building 16,000 miles of 
new railway. All these roads have to be tied with com- 
paratively young timber. I have not at hand an esti- 
mate of the number of ties used per mile, but the an- 
nual consumption is very large. Some years ago to 
build 71,000 miles of railway required 181,600,000 ties. 
Ties have to be replaced every seven years, and it is fair 
to set down the number of ties required annually for 
future consumption at 160,000,000. As every one knows, 
railroad ties are cut from young timber, the trees being 
from eight to twenty inches in diameter, and this de- 
mand strikes at the very source of our timber supply. 

It is a fact that the fences of the United States have 
cost more than the land, and they are to-day the most 
valuable class of property in the United States, except 
buildings, railroads, and real estate in cities. To keep 
up the fences requires annually an enormous consump- 
tion of timber. The 125,000 farms in Kentucky require 
150,000,000 panels of fence to enclose them. The num- 
ber of rails required is set down at 2,000,000,000, cost- 
ing $75,000,000. To repair and keep in good order 
the fences in this one state costs, annually, $10,000,000. 
Illinois, a comparatively new state, has $200,000,000 in- 
vested in fences, but it costs her only about $300,000 an- 
nually for repairs, many of her fences being constructed 
of wire. The whole value of the fences in the United 
States may be set down at $2,000,000,000, and it costs 
$100,000,000 annually to keep them in repair. 

The city of Chicago alone last year employed 17,800 
men in handling lumber. There were 500 clerks, 4000 
wood-workers, 2000 sailors, 1000 men to load and unload 
the vessels, and 10,000 men to handle and prepare the 
lumber for market, besides 300 proprietors. The lumber 
brought to Chicago in 1881 exceeded 2,000,000,000 feet, 
and would have loaded one train of cars 2000 miles long. 
No less than 300 square miles of land was stripped of 



10 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

trees last year to supply the Chicago market with lum- 
ber. These figures are indeed appalling, and may well 
alarm any one as to the future source of our timber sup- 
ply. There is no hope of any diminution in the future, 
for Chicago will require more lumber this year than she 
did last. The demand is ever increasing, and the sup- 
ply ever diminishing. Between the two the end must 
come soon, and the grand old forests disappear. After 
the Saginaw, Muskegon, Menomonee, Manistee, and Lud- 
ington sources are exhausted, the Eocky Mountain slopes 
and Washington Territory will be stripped of their for- 
ests, and then we will have all that is worth taking. 
Every year we denude 8,000,000 acres of trees, and plant 
less than 1,000,000 acres to replace them. The end is so 
plain, even a fool may read it as he runs. 



CHAPTEE III. 

EFFECT OF FORESTS ON A COUNTRY. 

The Effect of Trees on Humidity, Evaporation, Rainfall, and Prevail- 
ing Winds. — Nebraska's Generous Labor in Behalf of the Repro- 
duction of Trees, and her Reward. — Humidifying Influence of the 
Pacific Winds on Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. — The Humidity of 
Forests, to What Due.— The Theory of Condensation in Connection 
with Trees. — Evil Results of Forest Destruction in Santa Cruz. — 
The Serious Results of Forest Destruction to Manufacturing Indus- 
tries. — The Tree-planting of Lower Egypt and Consequent Rain- 
fall. — Moisture Distribution of Kansas and Nebraska, to What Due. 
— The Agricultural Benefits Derived from Tree-planting in Aus- 
tralia. — The Australian Desert's Reclamation Possible. — The De- 
struction of Forest-lands for Agricultural Purposes in the United 
States. — Decrease of Lumber Supply and its Increasing Value. — 
Precautionary Measures Discussed. 

The effect of trees upon the rainfall of a country is 
no longer disputed by the intelligent. A good -sized 
peach-tree will give off eighteen pounds, or about two 
gallons, of moisture every twelve hours. The evapora- 
tion of the earth through trees is immense; the roots 
often draw from springs themselves, and throw off 
through their branches great volumes of humid air. 

Those who have watched the effect of forests on rain- 
fall say that, by commencing at the edge of any dry 
belt, the forests, and consequent rainfall, may gradually 
be extended across the whole of the dry belt. The exper- 
iment is being tried in Nebraska, and I believe with en- 
couraging results, as the rainfall is gradually increasing. 
No state in the Union has done more to replace her for- 
ests, and I am happy to say Nebraska is already reaping 
the rewards of her generous labor in behalf of the trees. 



12 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

At a depth of some twenty feet from the surface of 
the earth white sand is struck in both Kansas and Ne- 
braska, which is full of water, and in some places forms 
subterranean streams. This makes both these states 
famous forest-growing regions, as the roots of the trees 
readily seek the moist white sand, and the trees grow 
with a rapidity which is perfectly astonishing. 

I think the great currents of air which leave the Pa- 
cific coast humid and warm are forced up by the high 
mountains until they become cold, and are discharged 
in snows in the Eocky Mountains, when, leaving the 
mountains dry, they sweep over the great plains, find- 
ing no moisture to take up until they cross the Missouri 
and Mississippi, when, having been recharged, they 
empty in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. We know that 
in Wyoming Territory the dearth is almost complete, 
and the dry winds blow incessantly. But in Nebraska 
the heavily timbered heads of her streams give some 
humidity, and the clouds empty in frequent showers 
along the Loups, Niobrara, Plattes, Elkhorn, and Mis- 
souri. In time, as Nebraska increases her forests, the 
rains will become more frequent, and some day, should 
she persist in her present system of tree-planting, she will 
be as well watered as Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, or states 
farther east. 

Every one has noticed the moisture of the soil in a 
wood. There is as much difference between the soil 
under trees and that on a barren hill-top as there is in the 
temperature of a well and an open plain. The humidity 
of a forest is due to the discharge of moisture through 
the leaves of the trees. It is this peculiarity which 
keeps a stream strong and full where it flows for a long 
distance through woods; not only do the trees shade 
the stream from the rays of the sun and prevent evapo- 
ration, but they keep its banks moist and soft, and, in- 
stead of drinking up the stream, frequently contribute 
to its waters. The Elbe has lost eighteen per cent, of 



EFFECT OF FOEESTS ON A COUNTRY. 13 

its flow in consequence of cutting away the trees along 
its banks, exposing its waters to the hot sun. 

The island of Santa Cruz, in the West Indies, which 
twenty-five or thirty years ago was a garden, is now 
almost a desert in consequence of cutting away the for- 
ests. The theory is that the dry currents of air are re- 
tarded by forests, and elevated until a point of conden- 
sation is reached. Radiation is also prevented, the air 
cooled, and the clouds, passing over trees, are rendered 
more easily condensed. Electricity is also a great agent, 
the trees being negatively charged, and drawing with 
great power the positively charged clouds. This theory 
is no longer a matter of doubt or experiment, but a fact 
demonstrated by experience and a knowledge of the 
laws that govern the atmosphere. 

But not only in Europe, but in America, is the loss of 
timber already lamentably felt. Many of our rivers 
have lost half their usefulness for manufacturing pur- 
poses. The Connecticut is hardly navigable, and the 
Kennebec and Merrimac have shrunk one fourth. The 
Potomac has lost nearly one fourth of its volume, and 
the Hudson declined a sixth. If the Adirondack wilder- 
ness and other forests adjacent were destroyed it would 
probably, in time, render the Hudson wholly unnavi- 
gable. 

As has been explained, forests are vast reservoirs of 
humidity — lessening the dryness of the surrounding at- 
mosphere, and aiding the perennial flow of springs and 
streams. Says Bryant, " instances are on record of the 
drying up of springs and rivulets when the woods which 
shaded them were felled, and of their reappearance when 
the trees were suffered again to grow." 

The increase of rainfall in Lower Egypt since the for- 
mation of extensive plantations of trees is proof of their 
effect upon the rainfall of a country. In 1869 there 
were fourteen rainy days at the Isthmus of Suez, where 
rain had rarely if ever before been known, and the 



14 TKEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

cause was ascribed to the planting of large plantations 
of trees. In Kansas and Nebraska the rains are much 
more evenly distributed through the seasons than they 
used to be, and this is undoubtedly due to the stirring 
of the soil and the planting of trees. A similar change 
has been noticed in Colorado, where the flow of small 
streams, it is said, is becoming stronger and more per- 
manent. The waters of the Great Salt Lake, which 
some years ago seemed to be receding, have again risen, 
and are every year increasing, as the Mormons open up 
farms and plant orchards in the Salt Lake valley. 

The effect of forests on a country may be set down as 
follows : First, great humidity of the atmosphere. Sec- 
ond, more rapid evaporation. Third, greater regularity 
of rainfall. Fourth, diminished force of the prevailing 
winds. In no country has the effect of settlement on 
the climate been more apparent than in Australia. Keep- 
ing sheep there is in many places no longer as profitable 
as it used to be ; but, on the other hand, large tracts of 
land that were worthless before have latterly become fit 
for agriculture. There has been a decided increase of 
forests and a consequent increase of moisture in many 
parts, giving hopes that eventually the whole interior 
desert may be reclaimed. The direct effect of sheep- 
raising has been to keep down the long grass which for- 
merly afforded material for destructive fires. The trees, 
young and old, had been periodically burned by these 
fires, until the country, becoming almost treeless, its cli- 
mate had been rendered arid and its soil sterile. If the 
climate in Australia can be changed and rains made to 
fall by the growing of timber, why not our own coun- 
try? And why may not our plains, in time, become 
well- watered regions and good farming countries ? 

Incredible as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that 
forests are still felled and burned for the purpose of 
bringing the land they stand upon under cultivation. 
From 1860 to 1870 no less than twelve million acres of 



EFFECT OF FORESTS ON A COUNTRY. 15 

forest were cut, the timber logged and burned on the 
ground, so that the land could be fanned. The annual 
decrease of forests by logging and burning is still, I am 
told, some eight hundred thousand acres per year. And 
while we are thus destroying our timber by every pos- 
sible means, and taking no adequate steps for replacing 
it, the demand for lumber is increasing at the rate of 
twenty-five per cent, per annum. I cannot say what is 
just the annual decrease of our forests, but it cannot be 
less than eight million acres per annum, while as yet we 
do not plant more than a tenth of that amount in new 
timber, outside of Nebraska. 

That we have shamefully and wantonly destroyed our 
forests no right - thinking man will deny. We cannot 
undo the past, but we may still provide for the future 
if we set to work with diligence and sense, and earnest- 
ly persevere. What, then, should be done 1 Let every 
man remember when he fells a big tree he is doing some- 
thing which he cannot undo, and destroying that which 
in his lifetime he cannot replace, and let him cut down 
just as few trees as possible. Farmers should plant hedges 
around their fields, and avoid cutting down timber for 
rails or fencing of any kind. Division fences between 
farms ought always to be made of hedges. Strong herd- 
laws should be passed in the states and territories, and 
stock not be allowed to run at large, thus doing away 
with the necessity of so many fences. Millions of dead 
capital in the states might thus be utilized and brought 
into use for other purposes. States should make liberal 
appropriations, and foster and encourage in every way 
the replanting of forests. Nebraska has admirable herd 
and forestry laws, and may be taken as a model in this 
respect by her sister states. Congress should enact 
strong laws for the protection of timber on the public 
domain, or turn it over to the states and territories. If 
placed under the War Department it would be protect- 
ed. Overseers of roads should be made to plant trees 



16 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

along the highways at the public expense. Railways 
should be compelled to plant trees along the whole 
length of their track on either side, and preserve them 
from fires. Reservations should be laid off around the 
heads of rivers and streams, and no timber be allowed 
to be cut there. It is true that we cannot in one or 
even two generations repair all the damage that has al- 
ready been done; but, by beginning at once, we may 
yet avoid the terrible scourge of a timber famine in the 
United States. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

DANGER OF TIMBER FAMINE. 

Convincing Proofs of the Approach of a Timber Famine.— Manufac- 
ture of Charcoal in New England, and Quantities of Wood An- 
nually Consumed thereby. — The Destruction of Forests on the 
Tittabawassee and Cass Rivers Illustrated. — The Immensity of 
Forest Destruction in Nevada. — A Prediction of Nevada's Future. 

If any one doubts the danger of a timber famine in 
the United States at some future day, let him look at the 
destruction of trees in his own neighborhood. Where 
are the forests that sheltered our youth ? Where are the 
big woods in which we hunted the red deer, the black 
and gray squirrel, and an occasional bear ? Gone, gone, 
and all the game with them. I remember the furnaces 
of my own county, Centre, in Pennsylvania, how they 
never ceased until all the big woods were cut down and 
burned up into charcoal to make iron. 

A few years ago, in the towns of Canaan, Salisbury, 
Norfolk, Sharon, Cornwall, and Goshen, comprising the 
northwestern part of Litchfield County, Connecticut, and 
a small portion of Dutchess County, New York, and 
Berkshire County, Massachusetts, were no less than 
twelve iron furnaces for the manufacture of charcoal 
pig-iron, from iron dug within these districts. These fur- 
naces made about 3500 tons of pig-iron each per year, 
at a cost of about $i0 per ton, or $1,680,000 for the 
whole. More than half this amount was paid for wood 
consumed in the shape of charcoal. To run these fur- 
naces one year it required that between four and five 
hundred acres of land should be stripped of the wood, 
1* 



18 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

or a total of between five and six thousand acres cut 
every year. 

As every one knows, it takes about twenty years there to 
make a crop of wood, the whole amount of land stripped 
bare would be in the neighborhood of one hundred thou- 
sand acres, or nearly the whole of the woodland in the 
section above named. But not only in one or two states, 
but in all the states the destruction goes steadily on. Take, 
for the purpose of illustration, the records of the amount 
of logs rafted out of the great lumber-producing streams 
of the Saginaw districts for a number of years. In round 
numbers the Tittabawassee rafted out 288,000,000 feet of 
logs in 1871, 316,000,000 feet in 1872, and 269,000,000 
feet in 1873, and had left each year from two hundred 
to three hundred million feet. In 1873 the amount 
left over was stated at 250,000,000 feet. Taking the 
amount rafted out and the amount left over in 1873, we 
should have 519,000,000 feet as the total product of the 
Tittabawassee lumbering that year. Up to August of 
1874 there had been rafted out of the Tittabawassee 
1,202,371 pieces, or. about 215,000,000 feet, and there 
were left back about 100,000,000 feet, making a total 
for the year of, say, 315,000,000 feet for 1874, against 
519,000,000 feet for 1873. 

Let us take the Cass River, the largest lumber-pro- 
ducing stream of this region except the Tittabawassee. 
In 1871 there were rafted out of the Cass River 55,841,- 
618 feet of logs; in 1872 there were 99,913,935 feet; in 
1873 there were 109,450,140 feet ; and in 1874, all the 
logs being now out, there have been but 48,260,800 feet, 
and there are no logs left. 

We might continue these illustrations by exhibiting 
the figures for the other streams in this section, and by 
giving the facts concerning the immense waste of for- 
ests, but these will do for one region. 

A Virginia City (Nevada) paper says that an im- 
mense destruction of the forest is taking place in that 



DANGER OF TIMBER FAMINE. 19 

vicinity, and in a short time the lumbermen have ad- 
vanced from the base to the summit of the Sierras, and 
soon they will go over the crest ; consequently it is pre- 
dicted that when the timber is all gone the snow will 
melt early in summer, leaving the streams from which 
they irrigate dry, and cold and fierce winds will have 
an uninterrupted and unobstructed sweep, making the 
country uninhabitable. 



CHAPTER Y. 

DESTROYING THE REDWOOD. 

A Description of the Redwood Forests.— Lumbering Operations in the 
Redwood Forests in Detail.— The Advantages of Skilled Axemen 
in Lumbering Operations.— The Axeman's Efficiency in Time of 
\y ar .— The Mill Machinery, of What Consisting.— Process of Pre- 
paring the Timber. — Immense - sized Trees. — Average Yield of 
Sawed Stuff per Acre. — The Forest Soil Described. — Depth of 
Root of the Redwood-tree, to What Due.— A Reasonable Expla- 
nation. — Great Age of the Redwood-tree. — Manner of Growth and 
General Appearance.— Experiences of the Log Camp.— Redwood 
Logging in California. 

A friend of mine, while in California not long ago, 
made a visit to the Kedwoocl forests on Eussian Kiver. 
His description of what he saw is so graphic and inter- 
esting that I give it a place in these chapters. He says : 
" The nearest mill was twenty miles distant. But such 
was the purity of the atmosphere that the timber could 
be seen distinctly, looming up in its gigantic height, 
twenty miles away on the mountains. After a sharp 
drive across the plains we descended to the river through 
a pocket canon, where forests of fir and laurel line the 
hillsides. At this season the river is a stream of fifty 
feet in width, about knee-deep. The other bank is the 
margin of the red woods. A mile beyond we came to 
Murphy's mill, located in a valley in the heart of the 
timber. Though it has been running continuously all 
summer with a force of twenty-five men, and a capacity 
for sawing twenty-five thousand feet per day, they have 
not succeeded in clearing the trees away from danger- 
ous proximity to the buildings. 



DESTROYING THE REDWOOD. 21 

"Having read newspaper and magazine articles and 
books of travel laudatory of everything here to a tire- 
some extent, I took the precaution to carry a tape-line, 
and propose to set down the sober results of measure- 
ment, and will leave the speculative and poetical depart- 
ments entirely out. 

" The men live in little houses scattered along a trout- 
stream near the mill, the stumps of the trees being in 
many instances as large as the houses. The mill-build- 
ing is forty by ninety feet, two stories high. The en- 
gine is sixty horse-power, having furnaces consuming 
less than half the sawdust and slabs produced — a car 
bears the surplus away to a pile always on fire. The 
gang of laborers is divided as follows : Sixteen men 
in the mill, eight in the woods, one cook, and four 
yokes of oxen. The wages for the eight Chinamen are 
twenty -six dollars per month; other common labor- 
ers, forty dollars. The engineers and sawyers receive 
from sixty to eighty dollars ; and the axemen, who fell 
the trees, are paid eighty dollars per month — all being 
' found.' 

" The axeman is the most important man on the prem- 
ises, for the reason that if he is not expert in felling the 
timber great annoyance and destruction would follow. 
The timber is soft and straight-grained, and splits better 
than chestnut. His axe is light, with a narrow blade, 
and a helve forty-two inches long. All trees are cut 
from two sides only ; there is no girdling or haggling. 
He chops both right and left handed, yet has to reach a 
long way when the trees are very large. In contriving 
to throw the trees away from the mill or away from 
other timber, no matter how they lean, brings out the 
skill of the woodman. But he does it every time. Not 
only that, but his employers will wager that his skill is 
so great he will drive a stake, set one hundred and fifty 
feet distant, with the falling tree ; and showed me where 
he dropped a ten -foot redwood exactly between two 



22 TKEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

stumps, either of which, if struck, would have shivered 
it ; there was less than a foot to spare on either side. 
All will at once understand that the point is to at once 
work up the timber without loss or delay and to the 
best advantage. A mistake made in lodging one of 
these huge fellows against another would entail hun- 
dreds of dollars in the expense and trouble of clearing 
away the debris. 

" In the older settled states there are few men left who 
could take their fathers' places as 'corner -men' at a 
house-raising. Enough are left to bear witness to the 
wonderful efficiency of an axe when wielded by skilful 
hands. It requires more judgment to manage than does 
the handling of his weapon by a swordsman. This was 
made plain during the war of the Rebellion by the great 
superiority of lumbermen and "Western men over others 
when it came to slashing timber for rifle-pits and road- 
making. 

" The mill machinery consists of one sash-saw, cutting 
logs eight feet in diameter (larger ones have to be 
slabbed), a circular - saw, edge -saws, and a planer for 
dressing and finishing. There are two cross-cut saws in 
the woods, following the axemen. Each saw is run by 
one man. 

" When we arrived, the logging-gang were hitched to 
a log which they dragged along the ground, sled-fashion, 
to the mill. Before hauling it the bark was peeled off 
and the end of the log slightly rounded. Buckets of 
water poured along the track made it slippery. Then, 
resting a few times by the way, the oxen ' snaked ' the 
log, five feet in diameter, to the ways at the mill : with 
a slight purchase and a pull by steam it was rolled on a 
car and began to travel to the saw. There it was cut 
by the sash-saw into three huge slabs, which were left 
clamped together, then rolled over to the circular-saw, 
which could now manage the pieces. Every twenty 
seconds a huge plank was sliced off and sent to the 



DESTROYING THE REDWOOD. 23 

6 edger ;' thence, in narrower boards, to the ' planer,' and 
before the mud was dry, it had become dressed -floor- 
ing or rustic finish for building. There were thirteen 
logs in that tree, each sixteen feet long. Another tree 
measured two hundred and eighty-eight feet from the 
stump to the end of the last saw-log. It had cut fifty- 
six thousand feet of boards ; the top was left at four 
feet diameter and near one hundred feet in length. 
Still another, which they were working into shingles, 
had already made three hundred thousand, and enough 
lay there in the log to make one hundred thousand more. 
It was perfectly free from knots and wind-shakes for 
two hundred feet. They count usually on having first- 
class lumber on the first one hundred and fifty feet. We 
measured two large trees, standing within fifty feet of 
each other, which were forty-one feet six inches and 
forty-one feet, respectively, in circumference at five feet 
from the ground. We afterwards saw still larger trees, 
but did not measure them, as some of them grew in 
clumps and were not fairly single stems. My opinion is 
that the average size may be set down as about eight 
feet across the stump. The product will run from two 
hundred thousand to five hundred thousand feet of sawed 
stuff per acre, as nearly as I could figure, depending on 
the frequency of the groups and the size of them. There 
is no undergrowth, and the ground is deep, mellow 
black soil, capable of producing anything grown in Cal- 
ifornia. After clearing there would be no trouble in 
ploughing close up to the stumps, as the roots lie far be- 
low. One tree having died, fire got into it and burned 
twenty feet below the surface, leaving a hole like a well 
where other portions of the trunk could be seen still 
growing upward. The explanation may be due to their 
great age, which has allowed for the accumulation of soil 
around them for hundreds and thousands of years — like 
the ruins of old cities buried under accumulations of cen- 
turies. Attempting to count the rings of annual growth, 



24 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

we found an indefinite and unsatisfactory undertaking. 
They were very close and blended together. There is 
no doubt that the largest trees were in existence before 
the Christian era— possibly as long ago as the building 
of Eome. The growth here is so dense there is very lit- 
tle foliage as compared with the size of the trunk, and 
the limbs do not often start nearer than one hundred and 
fifty feet from the ground. The tree-bole holds its di- 
ameter remarkably uniform in its upward growth, and 
will usually be two feet thick within fifteen feet of the 
top, where it seems to be broken off at the limit of the 
fog-line. There is no object at hand affording the spec- 
tator an adequate standard of comparison by which the 
eye may measure the vast height of these trees, which 
would far out-top the steeple of Trinity Church. 

" Away in the depth of these big woods we found a soli- 
tary cow, belonging to the mill. She was quietly rumi- 
nating, and seemed glad of companionship. That she was 
a civilized animal was shown by the polished brass tips 
on her horns. She was very gentle, and suffered us to 
pat her neck, while she stopped chewing her cud and put 
out her nose, breathing big breaths fragrant of milk and 
grassy odors. 

" Returning, a couple of hours were spent wandering 
about the mill, where a dozen four-horse teams were 
loading lumber at the big piles. Afterwards a stroll of 
a few rods to see long-armed Davis, in his ' shirt-sleeves,' 
swinging in the slow, steady strokes with his long-handled 
axe, as he opened an eight-foot notch in the side of a 
three-hundred-footer. He stood on the ground at his 
work, but once in a while stopped to walk half way 
around the tree, or shut one eye and look up with the 
other, as though mentally engaged in taking its weight 
and in calculating to the fraction of an inch the devia- 
tion from its proper course that any probable force might 
exercise on its fall. 

" Once ten rods away, bound for the settlements, the 



DESTEOYING THE EEDWOOD. 25 

axeman and the mill were hid from view — buried com- 
pletely by the trees." 

LOGGING LN CALIFOENIA. 

The following account of the manner of handling the 
redwood logs is condensed from the Scientific American 
of recent date, and may be found interesting. The 
manner of preparing the tree, and treating the road on 
which the logs are snaked out, is the same in detail as 
is already given in the commencement of this chapter, 
with the exception that the trees are now felled with 
saws instead of axes, as hitherto ; it being found that 
the trees jump better from their stumps, and cause less 
waste by breakage, than when the axe was used. 

No wagons are used in the woods, the logs being sim- 
ply snaked along the ground, and in this manner the 
loads hauled are sometimes enormous. One train of 
seven logs, drawn on Humboldt Bay by five yoke of 
oxen, scaled collectively 22,500 feet, board measure, of 
mercantile lumber. 

Until within the past year all the labor of handling 
these logs was done with cattle, but now steam is used 
in many places for this purpose. The machine consists 
of an upright boiler and engine, somewhat similar to a 
portable hoisting-engine, except that, instead of a reel 
to wind the rope on, it has two " gypsy-heads " on each 
end of the reel shaft. To move this machine around in 
the woods, they run a line ahead, make it fast to a tree 
or stump, take two or three turns around the gypsy, 
and start up the engine. In this way it hauls itself 
wherever wanted. By the use of this machine heavy 
logs are brought out of ravines and bad places, where it 
would be impossible to get them with oxen or horses. 

A wooden tramway is used for transporting the logs 
from the woods to the mills or streams ; but, as the more 
accessible timber is being cut off, this way of convey- 
ance is supplanted by iron and steel rails or locomotives. 
2 



26 TBEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

There are about forty mills engaged in cutting red- 
wood, the largest of which have a capacity of 75,000 or 
80,000 feet per day. Perhaps the average working ca- 
pacity of all the mills would be about 40,000 feet daily. 
The amount of redwood sawed by these mills in 1881 
was not far from 140,000,000 feet. Of this, 95,000,000 
came to the port of San Francisco ; the balance, 45,000,000 
feet, manufactured, was distributed to the lower ports 
in California, Mexico, South America, Sandwich Islands, 
Society Islands, and Australia, vessels going direct from 
the mills. Very few vessels, however, run all the year 
round, both on account of the difficulty of keeping them 
supplied with logs, and because the places where many 
are situated are not safe harbors for shipping in winter. 
As very few of the mills are connected with the market 
by rail, nearly all the lumber is transported by sailing- 
vessels. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 

The Forest World and Human Life Compared.— Remarkable-sized 
Trees, Where Found.— The Largest and Oldest Specimens in the 
World.— Adanson's Experience of the Age of Trees. — "The Afri- 
can Baobab," " Calif ornian Pine," "American Cypress," "The 
Tree Shelter of Cortez," " The Chestnut-tree of Mount Etna," "The 
Babylonian Tree," " The Wiirtemberg Linden-tree," "The Ancient 
Oaks of England," "The Old Walnut-tree of the Balkans," "The 
Banyan-tree of Ceylon," "The Ancient Cedar Forest of Lebanon," 
"The Feathery Cocoanut and Fan-like Palmyra of India," "The 
Date-tree," "American Trees of Historic Fame," "The Walnut- 
tree," "The Soap Plant of California," "The Mulberry-tree," "The 
Jonesia Asika" and "The Tamala of India," "The Shakespearian 
Mulberry," " The Wadsworth Oak of New York," " The Live-oaks 
of Florida," and the Grand Oaks of Europe variously and separate- 
ly Described.— The Oriental Mulberry Proverb.— A Quotation from 
Genesis. 

Tree-life all over the world, in every age and every 
clime, under Southern sunny skies or the bleak, bare 
heavens of the North, has its wonderful giant-like mon- 
archs, its hoary old sages, rugged with age, its poetical 
love-dreaming and love-suggesting specimens, and its 
useful plain, honest members. In fact, like the human 
life, the forest denizens have their world within them- 
selves, their kings and sages and plebeian races. 

The subject is a vast one; thousands of trees bear 
names or attributes worthy of description. The most 
remarkable trees, as to size, are the baobab of Africa, 
the coniferse of Upper California, the banyan of India, 
the lindens of Germany, and the oaks and yews of Eng- 
land. 



28 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

The African baobab is held by botanists to be the 
oldest and largest specimen of vegetable growth in the 
world. Adanson saw one in the Cape Yerde Islands 
within whose trunk, overlaid by three hundred close 
layers of wood, he discovered an inscription carved by 
two English travellers three centuries before. By the 
aid and position of this inscription he was able to ar- 
rive at a correct estimate not only of the length of 
time which it took the tree to grow or increase in size, 
but the exact age of the tree itself, which he puts 
down at five thousand one hundred and fifty years. 
The stem ordinarily attains only ten or twelve feet 
in height, but is thirty - four feet in diameter ; this 
immense foundation being necessary to support the 
foliage that grows on it. The main branch rises per- 
pendicularly sixty feet in diameter, and from it shoot 
other branches, extending horizontally fifty or more 
feet on all sides, and which, being loaded with the most 
exuberant growth of leaves, forms a verdant crown of 
something like one hundred and sixty feet in diameter ; a 
single tree giving thus the appearance of a forest. It is 
called by a name which signifies "a thousand years," 
which would seem to be in agreement with the calcula- 
tion of its age by all herbalists. A group of these bao- 
bab trees, crowning the summit of its rocks, gives the 
name of the Cape Yerde Isles — "Green Cape." The 
next in size, and of course in age, are the celebrated 
pines of California, known by various popular names 
among the miners and other inhabitants of the district 
in which they grow : "The mammoth Washington Tree," 
which was discovered by the naturalist Lob on the Sierra 
Nevada, at an elevation of five thousand feet ; " The 
Miner's Cabin," which is large enough for a comfortable 
dwelling-place, being a hollow tree three hundred feet 
high, with an excavation seventeen feet in breadth and 
thirty feet in circumference ; " The Three Sisters," three 
trees which, springing from one root, are so interlaced 



FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 29 

as to appear but one tree ; another, " The Eiding School," 
has been blown down by a terrible storm which swept 
over the valley. It has a hollow stem into which a 
horse may be ridden for seventy-five feet and turned 
around. 

These trees stand in groups, and many of them attain 
four hundred feet in height. Judging from the rings 
found within those that have been felled, they are 
mostly three thousand years old. Dr. Bigelow tells of 
one which he measured : " Eighteen feet from the stump 
it was fourteen and a half feet in diameter. As the 
diminution of the annual growth from the heart or cen- 
tre to the outer circumference or sapwood appeared in 
regular succession, I placed my hand midway, measuring 
six inches and carefully counting the rings on that space, 
which were one hundred and thirty, making the age of 
the tree, by this computation, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and eighty-five years." As to its size, he says, " It 
required thirty-one paces, three feet each, to measure its 
circumference, making ninety -three feet ;" and to fell it 
they were obliged to use pump augurs and bore it. It 
took 1a.ve men twenty-two days to lay it low, and the 
mere cutting down cost over five hundred dollars. 

It is said there are five hundred of these gigantic 
trees within an area of fifty acres, ninety of which are 
of colossal size. 

At Chapultepec, Mexico, there is an American cypress 
which, when the Spaniards entered the country, in 1520, 
was called " The Cypress of Montezuma," being then of 
immense size, over forty feet in girth and one hundred 
and twenty in height. And the province of Oakaca, in 
the same country, shows the cypress which sheltered 
Cortez and his troops, still in fine condition. According 
to De Candole, these trees are four thousand years old. 

A chestnut-tree still grows upon Mount Etna, called 
by the natives " Castagna di Cento Cavalla," because a 
hundred horsemen can be concealed in its interior ; be- 



30 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

ing hollow, and measuring one hundred and eighty feet 
round. At Babylon stands a willow-tree, in an ancient 
garden of Semiraniis, and supposed to be coeval with her 
reign. A peculiar sighing sound, heard in its branches, 
and caused by some action of the wind upon them, is 
believed by the Arabs to be the voices of spirits hidden 
within its foliage. As no bird or insect ever lights upon 
it, or flowers grow, or, indeed, live near it, they think 
them evil spirits, whose presence is a bane. 

By the city of Neustadt, in the kingdom of Wiirtem- 
berg, there stood a linden-tree which was antique in 
1229, for it is written " that the city of ISTeustaclt, then 
called Helmbundt, was destroyed in 1226 and rebuilt in 
1229, near the great linden." It was so well known that 
for centuries Germans spoke of Neustadt as " the city 
near the linden." A poem of 1408 describes it as stand- 
ing near the gate, its branches propped by sixty -seven 
stone pillars. In 1661 these pillars were increased to 
eighty -two, and in 1832 to one hundred and six. In 1832 
the trunk, at the height of six feet from the ground, 
measured thirty-seven feet ; and it was estimated in that 
year, when a terrible storm rendered it well-nigh a wreck, 
to be eight hundred years old. 

There are oaks in England planted before the Norman 
conquest, 1066, and yew-trees still older ; one at Foun- 
tain Abbey, Eipon, in Yorkshire, was said by Pennant 
to be twelve hundred years old ; another, in a church- 
3^ard at Baburn, Kent, measured by Evelyn in 1660, was 
then two thousand eight hundred and eighty years old, 
making it three thousand years old if still standing. 

In the Baider Valley, near Balaklava, there stands a 
walnut-tree which, though twelve hundred years old, has 
not yet forgotten to be useful, but yields annually from 
eighty to one hundred thousand nuts. It belongs to 
five Tartar families, who annually divide the nuts be- 
tween them. 

The finest specimen of the celebrated banyan-tree of 



FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 31 

Ceylon is found at Mount Lavina, seven miles from Co- 
lombo. Two roads run through its stems ; some of its 
fibrous shoots have been trained, like the stays of a ship, 
to intercept the road, while others hang half-way down, 
with beautiful vistas of cocoa -palms seen through its 
pillar-like stems and leaves. It throws a shadow at noon 
over four acres of ground. 

Cedars are found on Mount Lebanon supposed to be 
the remains of those vast forests from which Solomon 
cut the timbers for the temple three thousand years ago. 
Maundrell counted sixteen still standing in 1696 that 
measured thirty feet, and were over one hundred feet in 
the spread of the branches. 

The feathery cocoanut and the fan-like palmyra of the 
Deccan countries of India, the hardly less beautiful date- 
tree, useful for so many purposes that it seems as if a 
native Hindoo could scarcely get through life without 
it, are all trees of world-wide note, and many specimens 
of them are famous both for size and age. The date- 
tree, besides providing the inhabitants of its vicinity 
with almost everything used in their domestic economy, 
its fruit serving them as the chief article of food, the 
stems and leaves for baskets, mats, roof-covering, and 
carpet, is the source from which they imbibe their com- 
mon drink, " tara." Deep incisions being made in the 
trunk, a pleasant and abundant beverage exudes, both 
refreshing and invigorating if drank while fresh, but in- 
toxicating if allowed to ferment by exposure to the trop- 
ical sun. The tara is much sought for when in the fer- 
mented state by the English soldiers, and causes many 
of the irregularities and crimes recorded of the troops 
in India. Indeed, it is said that a camp pitched near a 
" toddy tope," or date grove, is sure to be disorderly. 

Among the trees having claim to historic fame, none 
are more worthily celebrated in our own country than 
the "Charter Oak" of Hartford, Connecticut, in which 
was concealed from British tyranny (1687) the charter 



32 TREES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

of the colony for several years. And the " Treaty Elm," 
under which the good "William Penn made his treaty 
with the Indians in 1682, and which stood upon the 
banks of the Delaware until the year 1827, when, in spite 
of the care taken to preserve it, it fell to the ground, and 
had a regenesis in the shape of canes, snuff-boxes, and 
drinking-cups. 

The walnut-tree, originally called gaulinut, from hav- 
ing been introduced into England from France (ancient 
Gaul), was once considered by herbalists to be efficacious 
in all diseases of the head, as it bore the head signature 
{i. £., a resemblance to the head), the outer skin being the 
pericranium, the shell the skull, the kernel the brain. 

At the end of the sixteenth century walnuts did more 
service than cannon-balls, as at the siege of Amiens by 
the Spanish during the opposition to the ascension of 
Henry Quatre to the French throne, a party of soldiers, 
dressed as French peasants, brought a cart-load of nuts 
to sell, and when admitted, as they passed through the 
gates let some of the nuts spill out, which the sentinels 
dispersed eagerly to gather up, and while stooping were 
set upon, killed, and the gates taken by the disguised 
peasants, who then admitted the Spanish army. 

In ancient times the fig-tree was sacred to the gods. Its 
leaves were used for the crown of Saturn ; its branches 
borne in procession at the feast of Plynteria, when the 
statue of Minerva was washed. In the Thargelia, or 
feast of the sun, they wore the fig, and played, on flutes, 
an ode to " The Fig-tree." The Eomans honored it be- 
cause Romulus and Kemus were found under a fig-tree, 
and it was considered a type of friendship. 

Paris has an elm-tree planted in 1605, the leaves of 
which are as early as those of younger trees. 

The soap-plant of California is not only beautiful, but 
useful, the bulbs being preferred by those who use them 
to the finest quality of soap. There is another tree, found 
in South America, the bark of which is used as soap also. 



FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 33 

The most beautiful tree of India and, it is said, of the 
world, called by the natives " Jonesia Asika," bears a 
red flower resembling the isora, of the most wonderful 
beauty and sweetness, while the denseness of its foli- 
age is a marvel to behold. Another tree of India, the 
tamala, bears black blossoms of a most singular shape. 

The mulberry, famous the world over, shall close this 
mere mention of celebrated tree-life. Since the Baby- 
lonian lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, in despair of the 
" course of true love running smooth," imperilled the 
spotless white of the mulberry-blossom with their life- 
blood, this tree, with its dark -winged leaves, its san- 
guine-juiced fruit, has been sung by poets and lauded 
by scholars. 

The Morea of Greece is named from its fancied re- 
semblance to the shape of the mulberry-leaf. The Rev- 
erend F. Gastrel, of Stratford-on-Avon, has sent his name 
down to ignominious disgrace, having, in the year 1786, 
"wantonly and brutishly" cut down the favorite tree 
of Shakespeare, a mulberry planted by the poet's own 
hands. 

The introduction of the mulberry into France for the 
food of the silkworm was bitterly opposed by the peo- 
ple, and only effected by the will of Henry IV., who fore- 
saw the great wealth to be thus gained. There is a 
pretty Oriental proverb inculcating patience and hope, 
which says : " With time and patience each leaf of the 
mulberry becomes the softest silk." 

The Wads worth oak at Genesee, ISTew York, is said to 
be five centuries old, and twenty-seven feet in circumfer- 
ence at the base. The massive, slow-growing live-oaks 
at Florida are worthy of notice on account of the enor- 
mous length of their branches. Bartram says : " I have 
stepped fifty paces in a straight line from the trunk of 
one of these trees to the extremity of the limbs." The 
oaks of Europe are among the grandest of trees. The 
Cowthrope tree is seventy - eight feet in circuit at the 



34 TKEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

ground, and is at least eighteen hundred years old. An- 
other in Dorsetshire is of equal age. In Westphalia is a 
hollow oat, which was a place of refuge in the troubled 
times of mediaeval history. The great oak at Saintes, 
in southern France, is ninety feet in girth, and has been 
ascertained to be two thousand years old. This monu- 
ment still flourishes, or did recently, and commemorates 
a period which antedates the first campaign of Julius 
Caesar. 

And the Lord God planted the trees of the field — 
" every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for 
food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, 
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil," under the 
shadow of which Eve and Lucifer had that agreeable 
little intercourse from which came all this trouble and 
confusion. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE OLDEST TIMBER IN THE WORLD. 

Where Found, and Uses to which Put. — Its Present Preserved Condi- 
tion and Sacred History. — The Ancient Trees of America, Where 
Found. — Petrified Relics. — Evidences of Ancient Tree-growth in 
Nevada. — Indian Tradition on the Tree-growth of Nevada. — Car- 
bonized Tree-trunks. 

Probably the oldest timber in the world, which has 
been subjected to the use of man, is that found in the 
ancient temple of Egypt in connection with stone-work, 
which is known to be at least four thousand years old. 
This, the only wood used in the construction of the tem- 
ple, is in the form of ties, holding the end of one stone 
to another at its upper surface. When two blocks were 
laid in place an excavation about an inch deep was made 
in each block, in which a tie shaped like an hour-glass 
was driven. It is, therefore, very difficult to force any 
stone from its position. The ties appear to have been 
of the timarisk or Shittim wood, of which the ark was 
constructed — a sacred tree in ancient Egypt, and now 
very seldom found in the valley of the Nile. The dove- 
tail ties are just as sound now as in the days of their in- 
sertion. Although fuel is extremely scarce in the coun- 
try, these bits of wood are not large enough to make it 
an object with the Arabs to heave off layer after layer 
of heavy stone to obtain them. Had they been of bronze, 
half of the old temple would have been destroyed years 
ago, so precious would they have been for various pur- 
poses. 

The oldest timber in America undoubtedly existed in 



36 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

Nevada and California. That in California has happily 
been preserved, but the ancient trees of Nevada have 
long since disappeared. There are, however, still to be 
seen many petrifactions of these ancient giants, which 
tell us what these forests once were, long before the land- 
ing of Columbus on our shores. 

In the bottom of the main shaft of the Virginia City 
Coal Company, Eldorado Caiion, Lyon County, Nevada, 
was encountered the trunk of a tree four feet in diame- 
ter, a lone relic of an ancient and extinct forest. Where 
cut through by the shaft, this old tree was found to be 
perfectly carbonized — turned into coal ; outside the old 
log was completely crusted over with iron pyrites, many 
of which were so bright that the crystals shone like dia- 
monds. These pyrites also extend into the body of the 
log, filling what were apparently once cracks of wind- 
shakes, and even forming clusters about what was once 
the heart of the tree. This relic of an old time lay far 
below the two veins of coal. The finding of this old 
trunk is evidence that the country ages and ages ago 
was covered by a forest of large trees ; though the na- 
tive timber growth, when the country was first visited 
by the whites, and as far back as the traditions of the 
Indians extend, was but a scrubby species of nut-pine. 
A few miles from the shaft in which this carbonized 
tree was found, are to be seen on the surface the petri- 
fied remains of many large trees. In the early days of 
Washoe, before the prospector had broken them up for 
specimens, pieces of tree-trunks two and three feet in di- 
ameter, and twenty or thirty feet in length, were to be 
seen lying upon the surface of the ground. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BEAUTY OF TREES. 

Their Varieties of Feature and Form and Diversity of Character. — 
The Attributes of Trees. — The Essential Condition of Beauty in 
Trees. — Beauty of Forest Retreats. — The Forest Enjoyments and 
Joyous Inhabitants. — Individual and Collective Beautifying of 
Trees, How Realized. 

Among all the millions of human beings who have 
existed since time began, no two have been alike. All 
their illimitable varieties of expression are produced by 
the varied combinations of only half a dozen features 
included in a circle of six to eight inches in diameter. 
While amid all these forms of expression many are 
known as being of exquisite beauty. So with the end- 
less diversity of character that may be exhibited among 
trees, with the multitude of features and form given by 
their trunks and myriads of branches, limbs, and twigs, 
their infinitude of leaves and blossoms, of all sizes, forms, 
and colors; their towering outlines delineated on the 
azure canopy of the skies, and the ever-varying play of 
light and shadow of their foliage. There are subtle ex- 
pressions in trees, as in the human face, that are difficult 
to analyze or account for. 

Sunny cheerfulness, gayety, gloom, sprightliness, rude- 
ness, sweetness, awkwardness, and eccentricities are all 
attributes of trees, as well as of human beings. Some 
trees look sulky or sad, as old oaks, or balsams, and re- 
pel sympathy. People never love such trees; they are 
only endured by way of variety. A healthy, vigorous 
sugar -maple looks warm, sunny, and deep -blossomed; 



38 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

the voluptuous magnolias and the wide-winged apple-tree, 
bending down with loads of fruit to shade and cover all, 
convey to us at once the idea of human love and sym- 
pathy. These are the trees we are forced to love, be- 
cause they are beautiful ; have souls that thrill a sympa- 
thetic chord in our own souls. The children will not 
cry when the stiff and stoical old balsam fir and Lom- 
bardy poplar are cut down; but lay low an old and 
favorite apple-tree, or oak, or maple, under whose shade 
they have played, and their hearts will be quick to feel 
the difference between trees. No tree has the highest 
beauty of its type without the appearance in its whole 
bearing of robust vigor. This is the essential condition 
of all beautiful trees. Thriftiness cannot make an elm 
look like an oak, but rather marks more sharply the 
difference between them, making the elm appear more 
graceful and the oak more majestic. Yet thriftiness 
changes the forms of some trees. Few trees attain the 
full measure of their beauty through thrift unless they 
are fully exposed on all sides to the sun. We do not 
mean that all trees will not be beautiful without such 
complete exposure, but that to realize the highest beauty 
of which any one is capable, it must be exposed. A 
greater variety of beauty can be attained by grouping 
one or more varieties or species, thus contrasting sev- 
eral expressions of form or foliage. But in this case we 
sacrifice the highest type of individual perfection to pro- 
duce a more striking effect with several trees. But the 
same fact may be observed with reference to the group ; 
its full beauty can be realized only by having the trees 
in luxurious growth, and exposed collectively to the 
sun. 

"What is a forest? How grand, how silent and beau- 
tiful ! Let us saunter forth after breakfast in the grand 
old woods, and, finding a pleasant spot, sit on a moss- 
covered log that not long ago stood erect and for H\ T e 
hundred years waved his feathery crest to the gentle 



THE BEAUTY OF TREES. 39 

breeze. It has resisted the crumbling power of Time's 
history remarkably well, and furnishes a nidus for the 
growth of the beautiful moss, whose Calyptra, with its 
cardinal's hat off, wooes the gentle zephyrs passing over 
its soft bed. 

This is a cool arbor — "a boundless contiguity of 
shade," where, undisturbed by the heathen shot-gun, 
the feathered songsters congregate to pour forth their 
matin lays in peace and fill their crops with the devas- 
tating insects that would denude the old forest-trees of 
their beauty and leave them to wither in lifeless decay. 
Hear the sprightly bluejay pipe his saucy notes, and 
mock in great glee the chattering squirrel on yonder 
huge knot contiguous to a safe retreat. Listen to the 
half-dozen birds in yonder thicket, personified by the 
merry, mischievous catbird. He is really the only bird 
in the thicket, and he laughs to think how he is fooling 
an unfeathered biped, with mouth agape, wondering at 
his mixed minstrelsy. 

Hark ! The woodpecker taps with lightning rapidity 
the dry limb on the top of yon elm, and as the taps echo 
among the cool arbors of the forest he chants his home- 
ly notes and thanks Heaven that he lives. The fish- 
hawk screams along the streams, and his voice strikes 
terror into the small song-birds, who have ventured near 
in search of food. 

In the distance, in the dark aisles of the forest, the 
loud notes of the hooting owl come booming on the 
air, and a thousand hearts beat momentarily in great 
fear. There goes one of the tribe known as the mink, 
and he proudly trots along with a mouse in his mouth 
and his head erect. And there comes a hawk from the 
barn-yard with a hen in her talons, pursuing the course 
marked out for her on the map of hawk-life, however 
detrimental that course may be to the housewife's an- 
ticipated chicken-pie. Insect life's ten thousand notes 
ascend to heaven in paeans of praise, and feeble, finite 



40 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

man worships in wonder and amazement the omnipres- 
ent Creator of all. The solitude of the forest is the 
place to see, listen, meditate, and worship. There we 
come in contact with the God of nature, and feel that 
it is good that we have been born. 



CHAPTER IX. 

INFLUENCE OF TREES ON CLIMATE. 

Forest Resources of India. — Formation and Development of the For- 
est Service of India. — Utility of Indian Forests, of What Con- 
sisting. — Traces of Flooded Areas.— Decrease of Stream in Pun- 
jab Rivers, to What Due.— The Temperature of Russia, How Af- 
fected by Forest Destruction. — Difficulty of Replanting Trees in 
Russia. — A Striking Illustration of a Forest-denuded Country. — 
Khanate of Bokhara. — Its Fertility Now and Thirty Years ago 
Contrasted. — Bavarian Observations. — Ascertained Influence of 
Forests on Climate, Relative Moisture, Fertility, and Healthful- 
ness, with Illustrations. — The Distribution of Rainfall and For- 
ests of the United States. — Serious Discoveries in the United States 
in Connection with Forest Destruction. — An Unpleasant Future 
Prospect. — Industrious Prosperit}' of the United States, How Threat- 
ened. — Saying of Dr. Hayes and How it Concerns the United 
States. 

A great deal has already been said in these chapters 
about the influence of trees on the climate of a country 
but as some people seem to be sceptical on this subject 
we will add for their benefit a few more facts. 

The formation and development of the forest service 
of India has been followed by a succession of reports 
that bring into prominence the great and varied forest 
resources of that country. 

The work of classifying, demarcating, working, and 
managing was commenced and conducted so recently as 
the year 1863, and hence a thorough examination of the 
forests of India has not been completed. The expanse 
of country under the direct control of the government 
comprises every variety of climate, elevation, and tem- 
perature, and almost every form of soil and sub-soil. 

2* 



42 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

The general forest administration has, therefore, to 
deal with the treatment of a great variety of forests, 
from the cool shade of the cedars that crown the middle 
ranges of the Himalayas, to the arid plains of the South, 
where the stunted vegetation scarcely yields a rafter for 
the peasant's hut, and thence to the tropical forests of 
Burmah, where the deep-green shade is never pierced by 
the sun's rays. 

The utility of these forests consists of their supplies of 
timber- woods and other products for building, manu- 
factures, food, or for the use and convenience of the 
people, while they indirectly affect the climate and soil, 
maintaining the supply of water in springs, streams, and 
even rivers. In certain parts there exist evidences that 
at some former period, where there was rice cultivation 
on a wide scale, there must have been large areas 
flooded with fresh water for a long succession of years, 
and that not by fitful floods of sudden inundation, but in 
a steady, quiet manner. At present there are to be seen 
only the dry beds of torrents, running as a torrent dur- 
ing the rainy season, and having a very small supply of 
water at other times. This phenomenon, as we are in- 
formed in Mr. Powell's report, so commonly observed in 
all the Punjab streams coming from the now denuded 
lower hills, points inevitably to the conclusion that forest 
denudation has deprived these rivers of their steady 
water supply, and hence ruined the rainless countries 
that were dependent on them. 

The winters in Russia are becoming colder every year, 
and the summers hotter, more dry, and less fruitful, ow- 
ing, as it is clearly proved by Palingston, to the destruc- 
tion of the woodlands which formerly abounded in the 
southern districts. The clearing of these lands has 
caused such an evaporation that many once capacious 
watercourses have become mere swamps, or are com- 
pletely dry. The Dnieper becomes every day more shal- 
low, and its tributaries are no longer worthy the name 



INFLUENCE OF TREES ON CLIMATE. 43 

of streams. The question of replanting has frequently 
been agitated, but the dried condition of the earth in 
many places in southern Russia makes it a matter of 
great difficulty. 

A striking illustration of the results which have fol- 
lowed the denuding of a country of its forest trees, and 
a result which has been brought about within the short 
period of thirty years, is afforded by the Khanate of Bok- 
hara, in Asia, a country situated between 35° and 45° 
north latitude, and 60° and 70° longitude east from Lon- 
don. Thirty years ago the Khanate was one of the most 
fertile provinces of central Asia, well wooded and wa- 
tered, and was considered an earthly paradise. Twenty- 
five years ago a mania for forest-clearing broke out and 
continued until the timber had nearly all been destroyed. 
What trees were spared by rulers and people were after- 
wards destroyed in course of a civil war. The conse- 
quence of this ruthless destruction of forest growth is 
now painfully manifest in immense dry and arid wastes, 
and the watercourses have .become dry and useless chan- 
nels. To ascertain by scientific observations the influ- 
ence of forests on the annual rainfall, moisture of the air 
and ground, and on the climate general^, the Bavarian 
government established in different parts of the kingdom 
seven stations, at each of which daily observations were 
made at two different points, one situated in the middle 
of a large open field, the other in the middle of a large 
forest. These observations, according to Dr. Ebermeyer's 
report, agree with the observations and opinions given 
by Humboldt, De Saussure, Herschel, and other scientists 
in regard to the great influence of forests on the climate, 
relative moisture, fertility, and healthfulness of a coun- 
try, and are confirmed by the present physical condition 
of the Mediterranean shores, which, since the Alps, Apen- 
nines, and Pyrenees were deprived of their forests, have 
lost the verdure and fertility so glowingty described by 
ancient geographers and historians. Rivers famous in 



44 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

story and song have sunk into insignificant streamlets, 
subject to sudden rises and overflows inundating and 
covering with gravel and sand the former fertile valleys. 
The destruction of the forests of the Yosges and Ceven- 
nes sensibly deteriorated the famous fertility of Elasas 
and the rich valleys of the Rhone. 

The same discoveries, although in a lesser degree, we 
are now making in various parts of the United States. 
The wholesale stripping of our republic's soil of its tim- 
ber, continued at its present accelerated rates, a quarter 
of a century later will be followed by a long era of 
physical degeneracy and climatic deterioration that must 
sap its industrial and even its intellectual energies, and 
reduce its fair and salubrious bosom to the aspect of a 
South American llano. 

Unless there can be excited a national interest in this 
subject, and preventive measures are set on foot, the vast 
interior of the United States must part with a great por- 
tion of its magnificent agricultural, manufacturing, and 
commercial prosperity. 

I say that the distribution of rainfall in the United 
States is almost identical with the distribution of its 
forests. The eastern one third of the United States is a 
well-watered and well-wooded area. The prairie region 
east of the Missouri has a moderate amount of rain. The 
parallel of 60° is the northern limit of the forests. Dr. 
Hayes said he had often covered a whole forest, well 
grown, with his hat. This was in Greenland, but unless 
we protect our forests the same may some day be said 
of the United States. 



CHAPTER X. 

WARMTH OF TREES IN WINTER AND COOLNESS IN 

SUMMER. 

Temperature of Trees. — Their Winter Warmth and Summer Cool- 
ness. — Differences of Temperature of Different Trees Illustrated. — 
Heat-producing Property of Trees Exemplified. — Local Heating 
Influence of Forests. — The Additional Property of Evergreens. — 
Their Twofold Office. 

Teees have temperature. The shade of some is much 
cooler and pleasanter than others. If you do not believe 
it, try the shade of a maple and then that of a pine, and 
note the difference. 

So, too, some trees are warmer in winter than others. 
We all know that a stove throws out heat by reason of 
the fuel it contains, and that in a like manner the food 
taken by an animal is, as so much fuel to a stove, the 
source from whence animal heat is derived, and which is 
given off to the surrounding atmosphere precisely as heat 
is given off from the stove ; but it is not so well known 
that trees give off heat in the same way. They feed, 
their food is decomposed, and during decomposition heat 
is generated and the surplus given off to the atmosphere. 
" If any one will examine a tree a few hours after the ces- 
sation of a snow-storm, he will find that the snow for 
perhaps a quarter of an inch from the stem of the tree has 
been thawed away more or less, according to the severity 
of the cold. This is owing to the waste heat from the 
tree. If he plants a hyacinth four inches or more under 
the surface of the earth in November, and it immediately 
becomes frozen in and stays frozen solid till March, yet, 



46 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

when it shall then be examined, it will be found that by 
the aid of its internal heat the bud has thawed itself 
through the frozen soil to the surface of the ground. 
These facts show the immense power in plants to gener- 
ate heat, and the more trees there are on a property the 
warmer a locality becomes. Evergreens, besides pos- 
sessing this heat-dispensing property, have the additional 
property of keeping in check cold winds from other quar- 
ters, thus filling as it were, the twofold office of stove and 
blanket." 



CHAPTER XL 

THE BLOOD OF TREES. 

Experiments in Connection with the Circulation of Sap in Trees. — 
Variety of Sap-exuding Trees.— Non Sap-yielding Species.— The 
Influence of Climate on Flow of Sap. — Composition of Sap, to What 
Due. — Distinctive Characteristics of Sap-yielding Trees Demon- 
strated. — Effect of the Temperature of Soil and Atmosphere on Sap- 
flow.— Principal Ingredients of Sap.— Daily Meteorological Obser- 
vations and What they Prove.— Explanations on the Alternations of 
Sap-flow.— The Observations of Biot and Nevins, and What they 
Determine.— The Opinion of Mr. Hubbard Confirmed by Experi- 
ments.— The Absorbent Power of Roots. — Development of Leaf 
and Flower, How Influenced, and Origin of their Vitality. 

A seeies of experiments made by Professor W. S. 
Clarke, President of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
lege, throws much light on a subject which has hitherto 
remained in great obscurity — the circulation of sap in 
trees — and promises an understanding of many things 
connected with pruning and transplanting which have 
hitherto been veiled in obscurity. Unable, from want 
of space, to present our readers with the full report, we 
endeavor to condense the material portions into a brief 
space. The familiar facts — that sap flows from wounds in 
certain trees in the spring, that from the sap of the maple 
sugar is obtained, and that the peculiarities of the season 
affect the quality and quantity of the flow, suggested 
these experiments, whose object was to determine the 
amount, pressure, and composition of sap which might be 
obtained from different species of woody oxogens. The 
great majority of trees and shrubs, it was found, do not 
at any season of the year bleed from wounds in the wood, 
and but few of the species which, in our northern lati- 



48 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

tude, exhibit this phenomenon at all do so when clothed 
in foliage. The striking and extraordinary differences 
thus evidenced are not accounted for by any peculiarity 
of structure or habitat. The soft and spongy wood of 
the willow and elm, growing in moist ground, seem spe- 
cially suited to absorb and pour forth water before the 
expansion of their leaves or flowers in the spring ; but 
examination shows that they contain no unusual amount 
of sap at that time. Of more than sixty species of trees 
and shrubs tested by Professor Clarke, only six — Betula, 
which includes the birch ; Acer, the maples ; Vitis, the 
vines ; Ostrea, the hornbeam ; Juglans, walnuts ; and Ca- 
rya, the hickories — showed any tendency to bleed. The 
genus Carya exudes but very little, and possibly Fagus, 
the beech ; and Carpinus, the hop hornbeam, may do the 
same, though no satisfactory test was applied. 

It was found that each species had its own time of 
beginning the flow of sap ; that the flow then steadily 
increased in quantity and force until the maximum was 
reached, when it gradually declined ; and that the com- 
position of the sap of the several species differed remark- 
ably, both according to the date of the flow and the time 
of its beginning. 

This singular periodicity demonstrates that the absorp- 
tion of water by the rootlets is not caused by osmose or 
any other merely physical force, but is the result of that 
specific life which imparts to every plant its distinctive 
characteristics. 

The sugar maple, which begins its flow in October, 
reaches its maximum about the first of April, and ceases 
about the first of May. The black birch begins the last 
of March, reaches its maximum in a single month, and 
stops entirely about the middle of May. The wild sum- 
mer grape-vine commences the first of May, arrives at its 
maximum by the twenty-fifth of the same month, and 
ceases early in June. Differences in the season of flow- 
ing are of course accompanied by corresponding differ- 



THE BLOOD OF TBEES. 49 

ences in the temperature of the soil and atmosphere, as 
also in the chemical condition of the sap. The principal 
ingredient of maple sap is cane sugar ; of birch sap, grape 
sugar ; and of vine sap, mucilage or gum. 

But why do we find cane sugar in the maple, and not 
in the birch % and why only gum in the vine ? Possi- 
bly because these several transformations of the starch 
(which descended to the root of the plant and was depos- 
ited in its cells, or in those of the stem, as the result of 
the previous season's growth) require different periods 
of time. The maple is the only one gorged with sap 
during the six months which intervene between the fall 
of the leaf and the beginning of spring growth. This 
affords ample time for the necessary chemical changes, 
and may account for the fact that the maple is the only 
indigenous tree from which crystallizable cane sugar can 
be profitably extracted. Birches are next in order. Being 
filled with sap for several weeks before a bud begins to 
expand, we may reasonably expect to find in them the 
formation at least of grape -sugar ; and in the north of 
Europe a sweet syrup is obtained from their sap by evap- 
oration. At last the vine. The beginning of the motion 
of its sap is deferred until about the first of May, at 
which time it seems to contain no sugar of any kind. 
Three weeks later it acquires a sweetish taste, and we 
may then find a trace of grape sugar. At this period 
the beginning of vegetable growth is attended by the 
rapid exhalation of the water of the crude sap and the 
assimilation of its gum in the formation of cellulose, and 
this is precisely the transformation which ordinarily oc- 
curs in plants at the beginning of the vegetating season. 
A careful comparison of the daily weight of the sap from 
several sugar-maple-trees with the meteorological obser- 
vations of the same period, conclusively proves that 
while the general flow corresponds with the season — ris- 
ing to a maximum and declining — the daily and hour- 
ly flow varies with the weather. Steadily and severely 
3 



50 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

cold and uniformly warm and foggy weather are the 
most unfavorable, while the best sap days are bright and 
warm, preceded by freezing nights. 

The variations of temperature which affect the flow of 
maple sap are most likely to occur when the ground is 
covered with snow, because the heat of the sun during 
the day cannot then overcome the cooling influence of 
night. The most probable explanation of the effect of 
these alternations appears to be that the contracting 
influence of the cold drives sap from the outer tissue of 
the tree into the heart- wood of the higher parts of the 
trunk. Meanwhile absorption goes on as usual under- 
ground, and thus, when relief is afforded by the expan- 
sive influence of the sun, the sap rushes again to the 
surface and flows abundantly. This explanation is con- 
firmed by the observations of Biot, in France, as to the 
poplar ; and by ISTevins, in Ireland, as to the elm. To 
determine whether sap would flow from the heart- wood 
of a sugar-tree a piece of gas-pipe was driven to a depth 
of six inches. The flow was regular and long-continued, 
but not abundant. From another tree a piece of bark 
five inches wide and three inches high was removed, and 
a piece of sheet-iron driven into the bark below to catch 
the sap which flowed very profusely but stopped very 
early. From the first tree the sap flowed eleven days 
longer than from the last, but the latter yielded twelve 
pounds more of the fluid. 

In case of a tree tapped on both the north and south 
sides at the same level, it was found that the north spout 
yielded daily about twice as much sap as the south, and 
continued to flow nearly two weeks longer. To discover 
whether the sweetness of the sap was the same in all 
parts of the same tree, spouts were inserted in a tree 
which had never previously been tapped — one at the 
usual height, one fifty feet higher, where the trunk was 
about five inches in diameter, and a limb thirty-five feet 
from the ground was cut. In several hours the lower 



THE BLOOD OF TREES. 51 

spout yielded six pounds of sap, the limb two ounces, 
and the upper spout none at all. Similar experiments 
of other trees showed the flows of sap to be most free 
within twelve feet of the earth, diminishing rapidly- 
above that height. Experiments upon the roots proved 
that the sap flowed from both ends of a cut root, and 
that it all contained sugar. 

The largest flow noticed during any one spring day 
was from a healthy shade-tree, six feet five inches in cir- 
cumference, March 23, and amounted to ten pounds and 
three ounces. Sap gathered from the latter tree Novem- 
ber 7 was found to contain only half as much sugar as 
that obtained in March from the first tree. Mr. Hub- 
bard, an experienced sugar-maker, is of the opinion that 
the amount of sugar obtained from a single tree can- 
not be augmented much by multiplying the number of 
spouts. 

Two half-inch holes about two inches deep suffice for 
ordinary trees, while four spouts and two buckets are 
used for very large trees. The average annual product 
of the sugar maple varies from twelve to twenty-four 
gallons of sap, yielding from two to three pounds of 
sugar, though the yield of a single tree is said to have 
exceeded thirty pounds in one season. 

Birches seem to exceed all other trees in the amount 
of sap which they yield — black, yellow, paper, and gray 
or Avhite birch were tested and reached the maximum 
of fifteen pounds per clay per spout. They were tapped 
March 19, commenced yielding on the 25th, and ended 
the last of April. 

At six o'clock, a.m., April 2, the two gauges in a black 
birch — the first at the ground and the second thirty feet 
higher up — indicated respectively pressures of 56.65 and 
26.74 feet of water, the difference corresponding almost 
exactly to the difference in height. A hole being bored 
at 12.30 p.m. opposite the lower gauge, the pressure fell 
in fifteen minutes equal to 10.27 feet of water. Upon 



52 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

closing the hole the pressure rose to its former level in 
ten minutes. A stop-cock having been inserted into the 
hole, it was found that the communication between it 
and each of the two gauges was almost instantaneous ; 
proving that the tree was entirely filled with sap and 
exerted its pressure freely in all directions. This sap- 
pressure continued to increase until May 11, when it 
represented a column of Avater 81.77 feet high — probably 
the highest pressure of sap ever before recorded. This 
pressure gradually decreased until May 27, when the 
lower gauge indicated zero. The suction manifested by 
the birch was very little, never exceeding nine feet of 
water, and continued for but a few days. 

To determine whether this pressure was due to the 
vital action of the roots alone, a root was followed for a 
distance of ten feet from the tree, and then, one foot 
below the surface, cut off. To this detached root, one 
inch in diameter, a gauge was attached, April 26. The 
pressure became immediately evident, and rose, with 
slight fluctuations, until noon of April 30, when it in- 
dicated a column of water 85.80 feet high. The origi- 
nal experiment of applying a gauge to the grape-vine, 
first tried by Rev. Stephen Hales, of England, one hun- 
dred and fifty years ago, was now repeated, May 9, and 
on the 21th showed a pressure of 49.52 feet of water — 
six and a half more than was observed by Hales. 

The peculiar features of the vine-sap are its lateness 
in the season, its apparent independence of the weather, 
its moderate and uniform rise to its maximum, its grad- 
ual decline to zero without marked fluctuations, and its 
almost unvarying suction of from 4.5 to 6.5 feet of wa- 
ter between June 20 and July 20, when the observations 
ceased. 

The general indications of the mercurial gauge seem 
to show that the flow of sap is caused by the absorbent 
power of the roots forcing water into the tree, and as, 
even in the maple, the sap rarely rises more than twenty 



THE BLOOD OF TEEES. 53 

feet from the ground, and the development of leaf and 
flower buds is not usually affected by any mechanical 
pressure of the sap forced into them from below, their 
vitality is stimulated to activity by the genial influence 
of the sun, and their growth is, in its beginning, caused 
by the assimilation of organic substances accumulated 
during the preceding season of vegetation. 

These experiments and observations are not final and 
conclusive in several respects, but they may be looked 
upon as having opened the door to an almost exhaust- 
less subject of which the world needs information. I 
hope they will be read with interest by the most indif- 
ferent, and will be carefully studied in all their relations 
to the natural world by those who delight in such re- 
searches. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

SHELTER-BELTS. 

Vegetable Need of Protection Illustrated. — Observed Fallacies and 
Reasonable Contradictions. — Laws of Heat Radiation Demonstrated. 
— Nightly Atmospheric Heating. — Condition and Elevation of Air 
Favorable to Vegetable Life. — Atmospheric Vapor, How Supplied. 
— The Benefits of Transpiration of Forests. — Observations in 
Europe, and What they Prove. — A Conclusion Established. — Ad- 
duced Facts. — Motion of the Atmosphere. — Liquid and Aerial Mo- 
tion Contrasted. — Aerial Motion Illustrated. — Protective Systems 
and their Controlling Influences. — Experienced Facts versus Theo- 
ry. — A Study for the Orchardist and Farmer. — Experienced Testi- 
mony on the Influence of Shelter-Belts. 

The following article from the pen of Professor Gale 
speaks for itself, and I need make no apology for insert- 
ing it here. 

"Both animal and vegetable life need protection. 
!Nor do we all see eye to eye in regard to the the- 
ory of protection. This is well illustrated in the fol- 
lowing statement from a late number of the Scientific 
American: 'A well -grown evergreen - tree gives off 
continually an exodium of warmth and moisture that 
reaches a distance of its area in height ; when the tree- 
planters advocate shelter - belts surrounding a tract of 
fifty or more acres, when the influence of such belt can 
only reach the height of the trees of such belt, they do 
that which will prove of little value.' There are two 
fallacies here. First, that the climatic influence of a tree 
arises from its power to send off an ' exodium of warmth ' 
into the surrounding atmosphere. In relation to this 
we will only ask how many Christmas-trees will be re- 
quired to keep our parlor warm next winter % The sec- 



SHELTER-BELTS. 55 

ond fallacy is that shelter-belts can effect climatic changes 
only through their power to send off an ' exodium of 
warmth.' While the writer of this article may have 
aimed at a very good thing, he has certainly missed the 
point as far as shelter-belts are concerned. 

"Holding that forest -culture in Kansas can be made 
a success, and that it is necessary to the prosperous set- 
tlement of the state, we desire to prove that forest-cult- 
ure in the form of extended and carefully arranged 
shelter-belts must have efficient climatic influence. In 
proof of this let us state some of the simple laws which 
govern the radiation of heat and the motion of the at- 
mosphere. 

"laws of heat. 

" 1. Heat is radiated from all bodies and in all direc- 
tions, the angle of incidence and of reflection being equal. 

" 2. Heat of high intensity passes almost unobstructed 
through some bodies, while the same bodies are opaque 
to heat of a lower intensity ; thus the sun sends its in- 
tense heat through the glass into the green-house, while 
the plants cannot radiate that heat back again through 
the glass into the open air. This fact can be illustrated 
by a heated ball and a plate of glass, showing the heat 
of low intensity is almost entirely retained by the glass. 
The vapor of water operates almost like the plate of 
glass, permitting the free passage of the heat from the 
sun, but checking very largely the radiation from the 
earth. Thus an atmosphere saturated with vapor will 
check radiation with seventy times the power of a dry 
atmosphere. 

" 3. The point of saturation varies with the tempera- 
ture of the atmosphere. Then the cooler the atmosphere 
the drier it will be, and hence the more rapid the radia- 
tion of heat ; or, the drier the atmosphere under any cir- 
cumstances, the more rapid the radiation of heat. It is 
calculated by Professor Tyndall that one tenth of the 



56 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

heat radiated from the earth is retained within ten feet 
of the earth's surface by the vapor held in the atmos- 
phere. 

" 4. It is found that during the night-time the atmos- 
phere becomes sensibly warmer to the height of one 
hundred and fifty feet, as shown in the following 

table : 

" Let the thermometer upon the grass represent zero, 
and at one inch above the grass it will read three degrees 
higher; and 

At 6 inches above the grass it will read 6 higher. 



lfoot 

12 feet 

50 feet 

150 feet 



7 
8 

10 
12 



You will notice that two thirds of the entire rise of tem- 
perature occurs beloAV twelve feet, and five sixths of the 
increase in temperature below fifty feet. That is, the 
vapor within fifty feet of the earth is five times more 
important to vegetable life than that contained within 
one hundred feet above that point, and the vapor within 
twelve feet of the earth's surface has twice as much in- 
fluence upon climatic conditions as one hundred and 
thirty -eight feet of atmosphere above that point. 

" These facts lead us at once to the conclusion that, 
as far as vegetable life is concerned, we are most inter- 
ested in the condition of the air within .twelve or fifteen 
feet of the earth's surface, and that a vapor-laden atmos- 
phere near the surface of the earth, not subject to vio- 
lent commotion, must be a matter of the gravest moment. 

" Now it is well known that vegetable life, as well as 
the earth itself, is sending off continually a vast amount 
of vapor into the atmosphere. Every spear of grass 
and every leaf is pumping up the moisture from the 
earth, and sending it forth into the air in the form of 
vapor, thus giving the earth a glassy covering, opaque 
to radiated heat of a low intensity. The amount of wa- 



SHELTER-BELTS. 5 1 

ter drawn from the soil by growing trees and given off 
in the form of vapor from the leaves is simply im- 
mense. Thus it is stated that the eucalyptus of Austra- 
lia will absorb ten times its weight in a single day (Kept. 
No. 159, H. K. U. S., on Timber Culture, page 94). A 
small pear-tree has been found to absorb and give off 
more than its own weight of water in forty hours. The 
effect of this transpiration is seen in the prevailing moist- 
ure of the forest. We have only to surround a house 
with a dense growth of timber, and we learn the imme- 
diate result in the dampness and mildew which pervade 
the dwelling. Hence the amount of moisture pumped 
up by the growing trees, often from great depths, can 
hardly be measured. This process will be constantly 
varying in its activity with the conditions of vegetable 
life. 

" Extended observations in Europe have proved that 
there is a marked excess in the rainfall of an extensive 
forest over that of the open country. This should be 
expected, since the falling rain, as it reaches the prevail- 
ing moisture of the forest, must condense and carry much 
of its vapor to the ground. 

" If the positions above taken be correct, we should 
expect that wooded lands should be cooler than the open 
fields in the daytime, and warmer in the night ; and such 
a conclusion has been 'clearly established by extended 
observations, made under the direction of the Bavarian 
government during the last six years. 

" The facts adduced prove that all vegetable life will 
cover itself with a glassy mantle, in density proportioned 
to the luxuriance of growth, and nearly opaque to the 
heat radiated from the earth. 

" How can this glassy mantle be retained as a nightly 
and constant protection to vegetable life, or must it be 
swept away by the prevailing winds ? To answer this 
question intelligently, we must consider briefly some of 
the simple laws which govern atmospheric motion. 



58 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



"MOTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 

" There is a marked contrast in the motion of a liquid 
like water, and an elastic, gaseous fluid like air. If we 
place an impediment in a creek the water immediately 
flows around the impediment, and will not flow over it 
as long as a clear way can be found to either the right 
or the left. But the air not only moves around on either 
side, but piles up in front of whatever checks its course 
and rolls over the top of the impediment as readily as it 
passes around. Thus a grove of timber or a thin shelter- 
belt effectually checks the motion of the wind. 









«H, ~A xw 



E^SS «_■•* 



'jfe.^^ 









^SW&Sa^i; 



The wind rises over the trees, as indicated by the ar- 
rows in the figure, and, instead of falling like water to 
the ground, it flows on, as shown, and does not reach the 
original level until it has gone a distance of eleven times 
the height of the wind-breaks. There will be a quiet 
atmosphere immediately about the trees, but to eleven 
times the height of the shelter-belt, and even in the 
teeth of the wind at D, there will be a quiet atmosphere. 
It is well known that while the wind may sweep with 
fearful velocity over a forest and powerfully agitate the 
tops of trees, the motion is comparatively slight within 
the forest ; the same is true of a succession of shelter-belts. 
The wind will sweep with great force over the trees at 
C, while all below remains quiet. The extent of these 
quiet spaces, A and B, will of course depend upon the 
height of the shelter-belts. Any one who will take the 



SHELTER-BELTS. 



59 



trouble can test the correctness of these views for him- 
self. 

" We expect that the most important and positive re- 
sults will follow a well-devised system of protection. It 
would exert a controlling influence over all farm opera- 
tions. A judicious system of protection would be at- 
tended with the most beneficent results, while under cer- 
tain other conditions it might be attended with disaster. 



" FACTS. 

" All this, some will say, is theory. But Kansas in 1874 
gave us, along the line of the M. K. and T. R. R., and in 
other parts of the state, some important facts in this di- 
rection. There are many parts of the state where corn 
was an entire failure. In a few localities corn matured 
a fair crop, even in exposed conditions. And there were 
other localities where corn yielded a crop only under 
very favorable conditions of culture and protection. It 
is these localities that are most interesting to us now. 
Space will permit at present the presentation of only a 
few of these cases reported to me by Robert Miliken, H. 
E. Van Deman, and others. 

" We have here represented a corn-field, Isaac Smith's, 
fourteen miles south of Emporia. A B, corn-field, at C 
the road passes through the timber, leaving an opening 




60 



TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



for the wind. As a consequence no corn matured near 
the road on either side. The timber south of B was very 
heavy, and the yield of corn in that part of the field was 
forty bushels to the acre ; while south of A the timber 
was much lighter, and as a result the yield of corn was 
not more than twenty bushels to the acre. 

" The figure below represents a field of corn reported 
by Mr. Van Deman, situated on the Neosho Kiver, two 
miles south of Neosho Falls. At A the field of corn was 
forty bushels to the acre. Further north, at B, beyond 
the influence of the southern protection, the corn dried 
up and was much lighter. 







"The following figure represents a corn-field north 
and east of an orchard eighteen years old, trees large 
and closely planted, Linn County, Kansas. Eeported by 



SHELTER-BELTS. 



61 







£ ^1, 1z 






■c. 






M. F. Leasure as yielding, in 1874, twice the corn of any 
other land upon the farm, though in ordinary seasons the 
corn is not as good as from some other parts of the farm. 
" Another case is that of B. F. Leonard, ten miles east 
of Emporia. Mr. Leonard had two fields in corn last year 
on land cleared of timber, and at least one half mile from 
the prairie on the south. ' He raised,' says Mr. Miliken, 
'the largest and heaviest corn I saw in 1874.' Corn 
from this field took the premium at the Linn County 
Fair, and was good enough for any season. The yield 
was sixty bushels per acre. Several other cases have 
been reported, with a careful attention to all incidental 
circumstances, so as to leave no doubt in regard to the 
direct influence of protection upon the corn crop of that 
immediate vicinity. In one case the corn was good for 
fifteen or twenty rods north of the timber, while beyond 
that line there was little or no corn. In another county, 
where a medium crop was made without protection, the 
lightest corn is reported on the southern side of the 
fields, where most exposed to the winds. The above 
cases are only given as examples of those which have 
been reported. They are facts which the practical farmer 



62 TREES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

and orchardist in Kansas need to study. If we doubt the 
deductions of science, we certainly ought not to be slow 
in accepting the testimony of experience. Tree-planters 
have long advocated shelter-belts, for they know the de- 
ductions of science are in their favor, and the testimony 
of experience has been brought across the ocean to prove 
these positions ; but the disasters of 1874 have brought 
out the experienced testimony of hundreds in Kansas. 
These can say, at least, that we know whereof we affirm 
when we report that in our experience shelter-belts have 
exerted a controlling influence on farm crops. < 

"It is time for the farmers of Kansas to look at the 
practical side of this question. 

" The whole matter of protection needs to be thorough- 
ly studied. Let the whole subject be carefully systema- 
tized with reference to the broadest results. We need to 
consider at large what to plant, when to plant, in what way 
to combine and extend our shelter-belts ; how the inter- 
ests of neighborhoods, towns, and even counties, run to- 
gether in this work ; how the interest of every property- 
holder may be concerned in this matter ; what may be 
justly claimed of our state and government to encourage 
the work ; and, lastly, how to reach and gain the atten- 
tion of the great mass of farmers on this question. These 
points are too broad and too important for a brief dis- 
cussion." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT. 

The White, Blue, Black, Green, Red, and European Ashes. — Their 
Growth, Usefulness, and Manner of Culture. — Climate and Soil 
best Suited to their Growth. — Distinguishing Traits and Proper- 
ties of Varieties. — The Mountain Ash. — Its Deportment, Uses, and 
Manner of Propagating. — Its Enemies. — The American Flowering 
Ash Described. 

It is not so difficult to raise timber as many people 
imagine. The lack of correct information on this sub- 
ject is, I believe, to a great extent the reason why so 
little timber is planted. If farmers only knew how to 
plant, and when and where, they would not be slow to 
raise trees. Now let us see -if we cannot give some sim- 
ple directions for the planting of trees. First, then, 

fHE ASH. 

This is one of the best trees for forest -culture. It 
grows rapidly, is easily raised, and of great money value. 
Mr. Hollenbeck, of Nebraska, has, in Douglas County, a 
piece of ash timber he planted in 1861, and many of the 
trees now measure thirty-eight inches in circumference, 
and are over forty feet high. Mr. Budd, of Iowa, has 
a grove that has done better still. He says ten acres, 
thinned to six feet apart, contained twelve thousand 
trees, and at twelve years of age were eight inches in 
diameter and thirty-five feet high. The wood from thin- 
ning paid all expenses of planting and cultivation. The 
bodies of the trees cut out sold for forty cents each, and 
the tops were worth ten cents more. Ten acres of this 



64 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 

timber, twelve years old, was estimated to be worth six 
thousand dollars. Young ash, if cut low at eight years 
of age, and a light furrow turned over the stumps, will 
sprout and be ready for a second cutting in eight 
years. Mr. Budd says ten acres of black ash, planted 
for hoop-poles in rows four feet apart, may be half 
thinned in five years, and at three cents per pole will 
yield $1620. The remaining half, or fifty-four thou- 
sand poles, cut two years later for large hoop-poles, 
at six cents per pole, will yield $4860. The ash seed 
should be sown in the fall, in rows two feet apart, 
and covered with one inch of earth. In winter scat- 
ter a litter of straw three inches deep over the ground. 
The straw should be renewed early in the spring. 
The plants will grow as soon as the frost is gone, 
and will be twelve to fourteen inches high by fall. 
This will make an admirable nursery, from which the 
trees should be transplanted when one year old, and 
set out in the forest ground four feet apart. Work the 
ground the same as for corn, and keep the weeds down ; 
the closer the trees are planted the straighter they will 
grow, and be free from lower limbs. 

THE WHITE ASH. 

The ashes greatly resemble each other in their quality 
of wood, but for profit and cultivation the white and 
blue ashes undoubtedly lead. Most of the farm utensils 
manufactured in this country are partially constructed 
of ash, and on this account are greatly preferred by the 
European farmer to those manufactured in his own coun- 
try ; this is owing to the excellence of the ash used in 
their construction. Owing to the rapid consumption of 
ash, not only for farming utensils, but for any purpose 
where toughness and durability are wanted, there is not 
the slightest doubt that the ash will be one of the most 
profitable trees planted. 

The white ash is one of our largest trees when it has 



KINDS OF TKEES TO PLANT. 65 

attained its full growth ; it is usually from two to three 
feet in diameter, with a straight trunk free from branch- 
es to the height of thirty or forty feet. We find the 
white ash in the New England States, New York, in the 
Northern States, and in the Dominion of Canada, but it 
is fast becoming scarce. It is common, but not by any 
means abundant, in northern Illinois and Iowa, but is 
met with less frequently in proceeding southward. It 
also grows to a small extent in southern Kansas, but 
is so small and crooked that it is worthless, except for 
fuel. 

The white ash needs a moist, cool, deep soil, and will 
not thrive to any extent in poor, dry land. The prairies 
of Iowa and Illinois afford the best soil for the cultiva- 
tion of the white ash; the other members of the ash 
species would thrive and perhaps be of more value far- 
ther south. Those trees of the ash family that have 
been of the most rapid growth afford the best timber, 
while that from slow-growing, stunted trees is generally 
weak and brittle. 

Ash is very extensively used in constructing carriages, 
furniture, and agricultural implements; it also makes 
very good firewood. The supply is fast diminishing and 
its use increasing, and those who propose to take advan- 
tage of this cannot be too soon in planting and getting 
ready to help fill the demand. The American ashes are 
dioecious, *. e., the fertile and the barren flowers are on 
different trees. Seed is only produced by white-ash trees 
that are growing in open ground ; it bears transplanting 
well, even when partially grown. It is a handsome and 
ornamental tree, and the only insect that attacks it is the 
May-bug, which devours the leaves early in the summer. 
The seed is ripe in October, and falls with the first frost. 

THE BLUE ASH. 

This tree grows principally upon the river bottoms of 
the Mississippi valley ; also on the banks of the Illinois 
3* 



66 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

River and its branches as far north as Bureau County, 
beyond which it becomes rare. It is about two feet in 
diameter, and reaches sixty or seventy feet in height. Its 
distinguishing trait from other members of its species 
is the triangular shape of the young shoots. The bark 
of old trees is not like that of the white ash, deeply fur- 
rowed, and divided into small spaces. The blue ash has 
the same qualities as other members of the ash genus, 
but possesses in a greater degree durability when ex- 
posed to the alternations of dryness and moisture : this 
quality has been satisfactorily proven in its use for posts, 
rails, stakes, etc., in rural fences ; where it grows it 
is employed for the same purposes as the white ash. 
Michana claims that a blue color can be extracted from 
the inner bark, and doubtless from this fact it has de- 
rived its name. It is planted and treated the same as 
the white ash, but I would suggest a more southern cli- 
mate than for the white ash — south of latitude 40°. 

BLACK ASK 

has the same characteristics as others of the ash family : 
its chief use is in the manufacture of barrels, baskets, 
and hoops for barrels, but it is less durable than others 
of its species when exposed to the weather. "When green 
it can scarcely be burned, but when seasoned is very 
good fuel. A great deal of alkali can be obtained from 
its ashes. It can be raised on ground that is too wet to 
produce other valuable kinds of timber ; it is to be plant- 
ed the same as others of its species. 

RED ASH 

is said to be more numerous than any of its brethren 
in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. 
Doctor Gray affirms that it is very rare west of the 
Alleghanies, but it is found in various portions of Iowa 
and Illinois. Its uses are the same as the white and 
blue ashes, and it lias all the properties for which they 



KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT. 67 

are prized. It is cultivated as are the others of the ash 
family. It is smaller than the white ash. 

GREEN ASH. 

This is quite an ordinary-sized tree, and is chiefly found 
upon the banks of rivers. It is quite a handsome tree, 
its leaves being very nearly alike on both sides. It pos- 
sesses the good qualities of the rest of the family, and 
the only drawback to its culture is its inferior size. Its 
seed, contrary to that of the blue and white ashes, germi- 
nates readily if sown dry in spring. It is cultivated like 
the rest of its genus. 

EUROPEAN ASH. 

This is a very lofty tree, the growth of which, in cer- 
tain locations, resembles that of the white and blue 
ashes, and is only cultivated in the United States for 
its beauty. Its wood does not begin to compare with 
the white and the blue ashes for durability ; hence I 
see no reason why it should be recommended for for- 
est cultivation. 

THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 

This tree is cultivated for ornament in many parts of 
the United States, within the neighborhoods of Boston^ 
Philadelphia, etc., where it attains considerable dimen- 
sions, sometimes reaching the height of thirty feet. Its 
deportment is somewhat restricted when fully grown, 
but is more loose and gracefully disposed when the tree 
is young. In color its bark is gray on old trees, but 
purplish -brown on young trees. Its leaves, which are 
spear-shaped and toothed on their edges, and smooth on 
their upper surface, are composed of eight or nine pairs 
of leaflets and an odd one terminating its length. Its 
flowers, which blossom in May and June, occur in large, 
fragrant white clusters, and are succeeded by berries of 
a brilliant scarlet color. 



68 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

Of the many varieties of the mountain ash, the smail- 
fruited variety is indigenous to the whole range of the 
Alleghanies, and is distinctively distinguishable by the 
dark-brown gloss of its young branches and by its scarlet 
berries. 

Most of its varieties may be propagated by seed, which 
should be gathered as soon as ripe. Macerate in water 
before sowing, to separate the seeds from the pulp. Sow 
in beds of light, rich soil at two or three inches apart, 
and cover to the depth of half an inch. By the end of 
the first season the plants should average a height of 
eighteen inches. Separate and transplant the most 
thrifty to situations of permanency, after which their 
growth w T ill be moderately rapid, and their attained 
height reach eight to ten feet at the end of the fifth 
year. 

The mountain ash is subject to the attacks of several 
species of borers, one of which is specially noticed as 
its enemy by Browne in his " Trees of America." This 
beetle varies in length from a little more than one half 
to three fourths of an inch. The upper side of the body 
of the perfect insect is marked with two longitudinal 
white stripes between three others of a light-brown color, 
while the face, the antenna?, the under side of the body, 
and the legs are white. It comes forth from the trunks 
of the trees early in June, making its escape in the night, 
during which time only it uses its ample wings in pass- 
ino* from one tree to another in search of companions 
and of food. In the daytime it keeps at rest among the 
leaves of the plants on which it feeds. 

In the months of June and July the females deposit 
their eggs upon the bark of the trees, near the roots, and 
the larvae or borers hatched from, them consist of fleshy, 
w T hitish grubs, without legs, nearly cylindrical in their 
form, and tapering a little from the first ring to the end 
of the body. The head is small, horny, and of a brown- 
ish color. The first ring is much larger than the others, 



KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT. 69 

the next two very short, and, like the first, are covered 
with punctures and very minute hairs. This grub with 
its strong jaws cuts a cylindrical passage through the 
bark, and pushes its castings backward out of the hole, 
while it bores upward into the wood. It continues in 
the larva state two or three years, during which it pene- 
trates eight or ten inches into the trunk of the tree, its 
burrow at the end approaching to and being covered 
only by the bark. It is in this situation that its trans- 
formation takes place, which is completed about the first 
of June, when the beetle gnaws through the bark that 
covers the end of the burrow, and comes out of its place 
of confinement in the night. One of the oldest, safest, 
and most successful modes of destroying this borer is to 
thrust a wire into the hole it has made, or, what would 
probably answer as well, to plug it up with soft wood. 
The apple-tree, as well as quince, June-berry, and various 
specimens of thorns and aronias, are attacked by the 
larvae of this beetle. 

THE AMERICAN -FLOWEEINO ASH. 

This tree is a native of North America, and attains 
the height of thirty or forty feet. It has an abundant 
and extensive foliage, and is highly prized as an or- 
namental tree. Its general characteristics are so simi- 
lar to the manna ash of Europe that it has been sup- 
posed one of the same species. It blooms in April and 
May, and its flowers are distinguished from those of the 
common ash by having corollas. This tree yields a clear, 
liquid-like substance, which oozes from its trunk and limbs 
under the influence of a hot sun. This substance first 
resembles drops of honey, of a sweetish taste, accom- 
panied by a slight degree of bitterness, but granulates on 
exposure to the atmosphere. This variety of the ash is 
propagated from seed, by grafting or budding, and by 
cuttings and layers. 



CHAPTEK XIY. 

THE WALNUT. 

Its Culture, Usefulness, and Productiveness. — Value of the Walnut as 
a Crop. — Seed per Acre. — Its Nativity. — Traces of its Antiquity 
and Introduction into Europe. — Recognized Roman Varieties and 
their Names. — Its Modern Cultivation and Increased Varieties. 
— The Black Walnut. — Where Found, Attainable Size, and At- 
tendant Features. — The Butternut. — Climate best Suited to its 
Growth. — General Qualities. — Its Medicinal Properties. — The Eng- 
lish Walnut. — Its Cultivation, Distinguishing Properties, and Fruit- 
fulness. 

The walnut is a favorite tree, and very useful. It 
grows admirably in rocky ground, and thrives best in 
land with a yellow subsoil. To prepare the land, fur- 
row out as if for corn, and drop the walnuts, one in a 
hill, four feet apart. Cover lightly with a hoe or plough. 
The seed should be planted soon after it falls from the 
tree, and is best dropped with the hull on. If this can- 
not be done, bury the seed, but by no means allow it to 
dry. Seed is also good dropped in February and cov- 
ered in the spring. The frost cracks the walnut shell, 
and the sprout will start out soon after being covered in 
April or May. Forty acres of walnut timber will yield 
the farmer in ten years more than if the land is planted 
every season in grain. The trees will grow the first 
year ten or twelve inches, the second thirty, and the 
third year four to five feet. The first and second year 
the ground may be planted between the rows with pota- 
toes or corn, and it will not hurt the young trees, wal- 
nut striking a deep root and drawing its sustenance 
from the subsoil. To make the trees bear nuts early, 



THE WALNUT. 71 

dig under and cut the tap-root. Fruit-trees that do not 
bear may also be made to do so by cutting their main or 
tap roots. Mr. Hollenbeck has a grove of forty acres of 
walnut, planted in 1865, and the trees average twenty- 
seven inches in circumference and are thirty-five feet 
high. Many of them bore nuts four years after plant- 
ing, and six years from planting the trees had a peck of 
nuts each. Three bushels of nuts with the hulls on will 
plant an acre four feet apart, or one and three quarter 
bushels hulled w ill plant the same amount of land. 

The walnut is a native of the mountains of Asia, from 
the Caucasus almost to China. It is supposed to be the 
Enoz of the Bible. The Greeks had it from Asia ; and 
Meander, Theophrastus, and others mention it under the 
names of Carya hasilike (or royal nut). Pliny informs 
us that it was introduced into Italy from Persia, an in- 
troduction which must have been of early date, for, al- 
though it be doubtful whether it be alluded to by Cato, 
it is certainly mentioned by Varro, who was born in the 
year 116 b.c. The Eomans called it Nux JPersica, Nix 
Regia, Nux euboca, Jovis glans, Dinglans, Juglans, etc. 
They recognized several varieties, and among them the 
soft-shelled walnut is still cultivated, which several of 
the commentators have confounded with the peach. In 
modern days the cultivation has been extended, and the 
number of varieties considerably increased. Jean Bau- 
hin noticed six only. Micheli, under Cosmo III. of Med- 
ici, describes thirty-seven, of which the original speci- 
mens are still preserved; some of these, however, are 
with difficulty distinguished from each other. 

THE BLACK WALNUT. 

This tree is found in the Atlantic States and the Mis- 
sissippi Yalley, in most places where the soil is deep and 
rich. It is also found in Illinois, but where it once ranked 
in that state with the ash and hickory, and was very 
abundant, it has now become scarce. 



*I2 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

Bryant, in his work on trees, speaks of one that he 
met near " Boslyn, on Long Island, about twenty miles 
from the city of New York. It stands on the grounds 
of William C. Bryant, and sprang from the seed in the 
year 1713, in the garden of a Quaker named Mudge. 
At three feet from the ground it is twenty-five feet in 
circumference. At the height of twelve or fifteen feet 
the trunk divides itself into several branches, each of 
which by itself would constitute a large tree ; the whole 
forming an immense canopy, overshadowing an area 
one hundred and fifty feet in diameter." 

The wood of the black walnut is extensively used in 
the manufacture of furniture, all species of cabinet- ware, 
gun-stocks, etc. Its excessi ve use is rendering the supply 
rather scanty. Fruit-trees, from some unknown cause, 
will not thrive near it ; but silver maples, birches, and 
other varieties of trees may be planted between the 
walnut-trees with rather a beneficial effect, as they pre- 
vent the low branches from spreading, as they otherwise 
would, a distance of about ten or twelve feet. These 
small branches should be pruned out from time to time. 
The black walnut is apt to throw out very heavy branch- 
es while young ; these should be pruned off close to the 
tree, otherwise it will have a tendency to form a low, 
heavy, spreading top. 

THE BUTTERNUT. 

This tree is common throughout the northern portion 
of the United States, from the Atlantic to the Bockies : 
it thrives best in a cold climate. Its wood is soft, fine- 
grained, and of a light-brown color ; is easily worked, 
and its uses are sufficiently varied to warrant its cultiva- 
tion an object of pecuniary interest. It is also valuable 
for its fruit. From a single planting the kernel becomes 
larger, fuller, and easier of extraction, while the shell 
becomes very much thinner. New England has the 
largest butternut-trees to be found in this country. 



THE WALNUT. 13 

A fluid extract of the inner bark of the root of this 
tree is used in cases of dysentery, habitual constipation, 
and other bowel complaints, and as a gentle cathartic, 
operating without producing debilitating effects. The 
preparations of the butternut are much used in domestic 
practice for the ailments of children, especially in throat 
disease. 

THE ENGLISH WALNUT 

is largely cultivated in Europe, both for its timber and 
fruit. The black walnut is far superior, both as a shade- 
tree and for its timber. It would hardly pay to culti- 
vate the tree excepting for its fruit, which is always 
marketable. The blossoms are very apt to be nipped 
and destroyed by the spring frosts, and, like the black 
walnut, fruit-trees will not thrive near it. Its exhala- 
tions are so disagreeable that we have authentic cases 
on record where people have been seriously affected by 
sleeping in its shade. It is best propagated by grafting. 
4 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE MAPLES. 

The Sugar Maple: its Productiveness, Peculiarities of Growth, Foli- 
age, and Manner of Culture. — A Proposition Worthy of Note. — 
Placing Maple-groves with Respect to Shelter. — The Advantages 
of Regular Planting. — Thrift of Trees when Transplanted from 
Dense Thickets. — Preferable Transplants. — Timber and Fuel Qual- 
ities of Maple. — Its Ornamental Standard. — The Chief Uses of Ma- 
ple. — Peculiarity of its Seed. — Soil best Adapted to its Growth. 
— The Soft Maple: its Wild and Cultivated Thrift, Manner of 
Planting, and Uses. — The Red Maple : Range of Growth, Na- 
tive Home and Standard Timber, and other Qualities. — The Ash- 
leaved Maple: its Uses, Growth, and Ornamental Advantages. — 
The Striped Maple: Where Found, Growth, and Ornament. — The 
Norway Maple: its Advantages. — The Large and Round-leaved 
Maples generally Described. 

SUGAR MAPLE. 

Mr. Pinney, an experienced tree-grower, says an acre 
of sugar maples at twenty-five years of age will average 
one foot in diameter and produce two thousand pounds 
of sugar annually. When the trees measure twenty 
inches they will give sixty thousand feet of lumber, 
worth $2500, besides a great deal of fuel. A peculiarity 
of this tree is, its body increases faster in size than its 
top. It can, therefore, be planted very closely. Two 
hundred trees will grow on an acre. Maple-seed ripens 
in October, and should be planted in rows the same as 
ash, but not so thickly. After planting, allow the tree 
to stand two years in the nursery, and then transplant 
to ground where it is to grow permanently. Old sugar 
orchards, with trees left scattering and thin, usually pay 
a good interest on the value of the land. Two or three 



THE MAPLES. 75 

hundred maples will thus usually occupy as many acres, 
often interspersed with beech, basswood, or hickory. 
The labor of gathering the sap over a larger area is 
much increased, while the production of sugar is dimin- 
ished. I do not know that any one has practically test- 
ed the plau, but it seems to me that a regularly planted 
sugar-maple grove on good land, but not too high-priced, 
ought to pay at least as well as the average of farming 
operations. Many farms are already scarce of wood, 
and to grow two or three acres of sugar-maple orchard 
would kill two birds with one stone. To accomplish a 
third object, the sugar bush ought to be planted in such 
shape and position as to protect the farm from the prev- 
alent destructive winter winds. A grove of trees on the 
west side of every grain farm would often be worth the 
use of the land simply as a shelter-belt to protect winter 
grain. As forests are being cleared off, many farmers 
are learning for the first time the importance and neces- 
sity of these shelter-belts of trees to protect their crops. 
But to the plan. For convenience in sap-gathering the 
sugar orchard should be planted in as compact a form as 
possible, and in regular rows ten feet apart each way. 
This will give, if there are no vacancies, four hundred 
and thirty trees per acre. But when young the trees 
will grow better if planted closer, say in rows five feet 
apart, and cultivated for two or three years. Once 
or twice scarifying the surface during the summer to 
destroy weeds will answer if you can get two or three 
year old trees to start with. Often trees ten or fifteen 
feet high, from new-growth woods, can be bought at 
small cost, and when this is possible it is always prefer- 
able. A young tree taken from a dense growth in the 
woods, where it has been stunted and smothered, will 
grow much more rapidly when planted where it can 
have room to spread, if it is well cultivated and pruned. 
These unpruned masses of young trees in a forest, each 
choking the other, and neither half living, are the bug- 



76 TEEES AND TKEE-PLANTTNG. 

bear which deters hundreds from planting trees. Farm- 
ers see how small a growth these make, and conclude 
that forest-growing is a very slow and unprofitable busi- 
ness. Yet when these same trees are planted by the 
road-side, often foot-bound with grass, their growth is 
much more rapid. I have in my mind a line of noble 
maples, planted seventeen years ago this spring by a 
public road, which have for two or three years been large 
enough to tap. They were got from the woods, and 
were the size of whipstalks when planted. Young trees 
of equal size, then, left in the same woods uncared for, 
are not half their size. Yet these trees have stood in 
grass most of the time since planted. Cultivated in or- 
chards, with room enough to grow, and yet so close as 
to keep down the grass, their growth would probably 
have been even larger than it is. The principal objec- 
tion to the maple for timber is the facility with which 
it decays when exposed to the weather. For fuel, the 
sugar maple is the American tree par excellence, not 
second to hickory, which is claimed by many Eastern 
people to be superior to all others for heat-producing 
qualities; it forms a dense, broad-based, round-topped, 
frequently egg-shaped head of deep-green foliage, clean, 
and more free from insects of all kinds than any other 
deciduous tree we know. It justly claims a place at the 
head of American ornamental trees. Being hardy, it is 
easily transplanted in large sizes, and bears cutting back 
very patiently. "We have known of large trees, three to 
four inches in diameter, with the tops all cut off, being 
moved from northern "Wisconsin to the prairies of Illi- 
nois, and being successfully transplanted. This tree is 
by far the most valuable of its species; its wood is 
hard, heavy, strong, close and fine grained ; has a silky 
lustre when polished. The curled maple and bird's- 
eye maple are the same as the sugar maple, the curl 
or bird's-eye being caused by the undulations and in- 
flections of the fibre. Its chief uses are in the manu- 



THE MAPLES. 77 

facture of cabinet work, gearings of mills, and in naval 
architecture. 

Sugar made from the maple commands a much higher 
price than that made from sugar-cane ; the syrup made 
from maple sap is ranked among syrups as A ISTo. 1. 

The seeds are in pairs, and are united at the base, but 
only one of each pair is of any account, the other being 
worthless. The trees never produce seed two years in 
succession. 

The sugar maple will not thrive in poor, sandy soil, 
but requires almost any good tillage land. It will not 
live where the soil is saturated with water during the 
growing season. Bryant speaks of losing a number of 
sugar maples in the wet season of 1874, which had been 
growing several years upon land which, in an ordinary 
season was dry enough for cultivation. It continues to 
grow after the silver maple has arrived at maturity, so 
that a tree-grower should not be discouraged at its slow 
growth in its early stages. The black sugar maple, 
though formerly classed as a different tree from the su- 
gar maple, is now generally considered as a variety of 
sugar maple. Its general properties and its sap are the 
same; its general appearance is darker, and its leaves 
are larger, darker, and less scolloped than the sugar 
maple. 

THE SOFT MAPLE. 

The soft maple, in its wild state, is an uncouth and 
shaggy tree ; when grown closely, in a cultivated grove, 
it is much improved in appearance and a most useful 
tree. I have seen numerous patches well shaped and 
eight and ten feet high at three and four years of age. 
In Konoma County, Iowa, maple-trees, seven years old 
from the seed, were large enough to make three ten-foot 
rails, and an acre yielded three thousand rails. This 
timber is always in great demand for manufacturing 
purposes. Its growth in seven years equals that of the 



IS TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

walnut in ten. The seeds ripen in June and should be 
sown in mellow ground as soon as they fall. Plant one 
and a half inches deep with drills in rows twenty inches 
apart. They will come up in six days. Keep the weeds 
out until the plants get a good start. The first year 
they will grow eighteen or twenty inches. They should 
be transplanted the next spring, and set out twenty- 
seven hundred to the acre. They will grow four to five 
feet the second year. A soft maple planted in 1861 is 
now forty-nine inches in circumference four feet from 
the ground. 

The red or soft maple has a wider range of growth 
than the sugar maple, being found farther north, and 
grows in the South quite down to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Its native home is in the low, rich soil in the swamps 
and along the borders of streams, yet it is frequently 
met on high lands, but growing less vigorously. In any 
location it makes a more rapid growth than the sugar 
maple. The wood is fine-grained and compact, more 
frequently curly than the sugar maple, but very seldom 
growing in birds'- eyes. The timber, for solidity and 
strength, is much inferior to that of the sugar maple, 
and is of much less value for fuel. It is, however, more 
valuable as a shade -tree and for planting for forest 
growth. Its habits being as desirable as the sugar ma- 
ple and its growth being much more rapid, and an ad- 
ditional beauty found in its foliage, makes it very desir- 
able for transplanting. The additional beauty is the 
deep scarlet-red color of the twigs and flowers very 
early in the spring, long before any other flowers ap- 
pear. The wood of the red maple is suitable for turning 
and carving, and it is much used for the stocks of shot- 
guns, rifles, etc. It is sometimes confounded with the 
silver mapfe^ but its wood is harder and finer grained. 
It grows to the height of sixty or seventy feet, and from 
two to three feet in diameter. It is hardly proba- 
ble that it will ever be cultivated for anything but its 



THE MAPLES. 19 

beauty. The seeds are about half as large as those of 
the sugar maple, are a deep red, and are ripe about the 
same time. 

BOX ELDEK, OR ASH-LEAVED MAPLE. 

A very ornamental tree, and in favorable situations 
reaches the height of fifty or sixty feet ; it grows along 
the banks of streams ; its growth is astonishingly rapid. 
It is very short-lived in dry soil. Sugar is made from 
its sap. This and its rapidity of growth render it a very 
desirable tree for planting for the production of sugar. 
It is a singularly beautiful tree while standing alone ; it 
has a round, symmetrical top, and very deep, dense foli- 
age. A large proportion of its seed is worthless ; it is 
planted and raised the same as the sugar maple. 

THE MOOSE-WOOD OE STRIPED MAPLE. 

This is a very small tree, generally from ten to twen- 
ty feet in height. It is found among the Alleghanies, 
and from Maine to Wisconsin and southward. It has 
deep, dense, heavy leaves, and smooth, light-green, striped 
bark. The wood is of a more durable character than 
the other maples, the only objection to it being its infe- 
rior size. It, therefore, is only of use as an ornamen- 
tal tree. I would suggest grafting to any one that in- 
tends raising it, as it is said to reach three or four times 
its ordinary size when grafted. 

THE NORWAY MAPLE. 

This tree, when first starting to grow, is very tardy 
for the first two or three years, but afterwards is of very 
rapid growth. Its foliage is more dense, its leaves come 
earlier in the spring and retain their verdure later in the 
fall than the sugar maple ; hence it has some slight ad- 
vantages over the sugar maple as an ornamental tree. 



80 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



THE LARGE-LEAVED MAPLE. 

This is a most graceful tree, and, when grown in soil 
and climate favorable to its thrift, attains a height vary- 
ing from forty to ninety feet, with a diameter of from 
two to five feet. The bark of its trunk is rough and of 
a dark-brown color, and that of its wide and spreading 
branches ash gray. Its leaves vary in size, the largest 
being nearly a foot broad. It bears a very fragrant, 
greenish-yellow flower, which appears during the months 
of April and May. Its latitude of growth is between 
forty and fifty degrees north, and it is indigenous to the 
northwest coast of North America, where it is found in 
woody, mountainous regions along the sea -coast, and 
on the great rapids of the river Columbia. Its wood 
is of a whitish tint, of a grain scarcely inferior to 
the finest satin-wood, and is well adapted for cabinet- 
making. 

This species produces sap in abundance, and might be 
made use of for sugar-making, as its saccharine property 
is equal to many of its congeners. It is a highly orna- 
mental tree, and attention to its suitability for general 
cultivation cannot be too warmly recommended. It is 
propagated by layers and of rapid growth. 

THE ROUND-LEAVED MAPLE. 

The round-leaved maple is a native of the northwest- 
ern coast of the American continent, between the forty- 
second and fiftieth degrees of latitude, where it arrives at 
the height of from twenty to forty feet. Its branches 
are pendent, slender, and somewhat crooked ; bark, when 
young, smooth and of a green color. This species may 
readily be distinguished by the regular form of its leaves, 
which are heart-shaped, equally lobed and nervated, of 
a pale, reddish-green color, smooth above and downy 
beneath, with lobes acute and sharply serrated. Its 
flowers, which are of a middling size, appear in April 



THE MAPLES. 81 

and May. Its wood is fine, white, and close-grained, 
very tough, and susceptible of a good polish. 

This species is confined to the woody, mountainous 
country that skirts the shores, and is particularly abun- 
dant in the region of the rapids of the river Columbia. 
It is propagated by layers, and is of rapid growth, the 
annual shoots often acquiring a length of six to ten feet. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ELMS. 

The White Elm. — Its Usefulness and Demand.— Growth and Attain- 
ment.— Elms, How Planted.— Additional Cropping of Area.— Re- 
sistance against Insects. — Its Use as a Shade-tree. — The Elm as De- 
scribed by Michaux.— Its Ancient and Modern Popularity. — Soil 
Suited to its Growth. — Effect of Crowded Planting on its Appear- 
ance. —Its Ornamental Usefulness. — The Corky White Elm. — 
Its Distinguishing Features. — Its Additional Name. — The Wa- 
hoo, or Winged Elm. — Its Distinguishing Growth and Scarcity. 
—Uses to which Put.— Its Medicinal Properties.— The Red Elm. 
— Its Relative Kindred. — Elevated Home. — Its Growth and Useful- 
ness.— Soil Suited to its Growth. — Durability of its Wood.— The 
Uses of Small Specimens. — Its Enemies and Objections. 

WHITE ELM. 

The white elm is a fine forest tree, and the demand 
for this wood is every year increasing as the old stock 
disappears. Plough-handles, cheese-boxes, chairs, and 
many manufactured articles are made from this wood. 

A field of white elms planted in Nebraska has done 
remarkably well. 

An avenue of these trees is unsurpassed for road 
shade. The growth is rapid, they have finely shaped 
heads, and are not easily damaged by insects or winds. 
Two elms near Omaha, planted in 1859, now measure 
forty and forty-two inches in circumference four feet 
from the ground. Some tall-growing tree may be plant- 
ed with them, and cut away at the end of ten years. 
Elms should be set out eight feet apart. A small tree, 
when the size of a small whip, was brought from Bel- 
gium thirty years ago, and now presents a rich and mag- 
nificent appearance, the trunk measuring two feet eight 



THE ELMS. 83 

inches in diameter in one direction, and over three feet 
in another. Michaux says that the white elm "is the 
most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone." It 
is the popular shade-tree of many portions of the United 
States. Horace, Ovid, and many other both ancient and 
modern poets speak of the elm, not only on account of 
its beauty, but the strange combination of grace, beauty, 
and majesty. It is the most popular tree for planting in 
parks, along avenues, and in cities, and, in short, wher- 
ever shade or beauty is required. It often reaches the 
height of from ninety to one hundred feet ; it loses a 
great deal of its grace and beauty if grown in a forest 
where it is crowded among other trees. 

It grows chiefly in a moist soil ; it sometimes thrives in 
a dry, but never in sterile soil. Its wood is chiefly used 
for the panels of carriages, naves of wheels, boxes, barrels, 
etc. It is seldom used for lumber when any other tim- 
ber can be obtained, as it warps badly. It is only as an 
ornamental tree that I would advise farmers to cultivate 
it, and as a shade-tree I cannot too strongly recommend 
it. The corky white elm is sometimes mistaken for the 
white elm, but can easily be distinguished by the corky 
ridges on its branches. It is sometimes called river elm : 
its wood is tougher and of somewhat finer grain than 
the white elm. 

THE WAHOO, OR WINGED ELM. 

This rather uncommon species of the elm is so scarce 
that little can be said in regard to it. It grows to the 
height of thirty or forty feet, and is distinguished by the 
corky ridges on the opposite side of its branches. Its 
wood is very fine-grained, and fit for turning, but is so 
uncommon that I cannot recommend its culture. Its 
most extensive use is in the construction of carriages. 

A fluid extract from the bark of the root of this tree 
is used as a tonic, alterative, and laxative, and is espe- 
cially beneficial in hepatic derangements, whether accom- 



84 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

panying or preceding intermittents, or occurring inde- 
pendently of malaria. In constipation, due to hepatic 
torpor, it is highly recommended. 

THE RED ELM. 

The red elm is the brother of the white elm, but it 
inhabits higher and dryer ground. As a shade-tree it is 
splendid, and grows rapidly. The wood is used for car- 
riages, and also makes excellent fuel. Trees of this kind, 
planted in 1861, grew to be twelve inches in diameter in 
ten years. They are often, however, attacked by insects, 
which burrow under the bark for sap. 

It will thrive in low, wet soil, is a medium-sized tree, 
about fifty or sixty feet in height, and from two to three 
feet in diameter; it also thrives on dryer ground and 
higher up than the rest of the native species. The red 
elm does not compare with the white elm in grace and 
beauty, but its wood is much more durable and tougher 
when exposed to atmospheric changes. The small spec- 
imens are used as wagon-hubs, carriage- hubs, etc., not 
being so very liable to crack in seasoning. In some sec- 
tions of the country it is used for rails ; the only objec- 
tion to it for this purpose is its liability to rot on contact 
with the ground. The sap-wood in the red elm is very 
small. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

THE LOCUST. 

The Honey-Locust. — Where Found and Convenient Usefulness. — Its 
Growth and Value. — Locust- wood as Pavement. — An Exceptional 
Specimen. — Uses of the Thorny and Thornless Varieties, and their 
Characteristics. — Distinguishing Variety Features. — Its Resisting 
Properties to Destructive Agencies. — Experience of Mr. Helme on 
Locust-planting. — Manner of Sowing its Seed for Hedge. — Manner 
of Transplanting Explained. — Its Usefulness as a Wind-break. — 
Successful Hedge-growing Experiments. — The Water-Locust. — 
Its Growth. — General Characteristics Compared with the Honey- 
Locust. — Where Found and Soil Suitable to its Growth. — The Yel- 
low and Common Locust variously Described. — The Rose-flowered 
Locust Described. 

THE HONEY-LOCUST. 

This is an admirable hedge-plant and a tree of great 
value, and on the river bottoms of Illinois honev-locusts 
are found from eighty to one hundred feet high and four 
feet thick. Dr. Warder, of Ohio, thinks this tree is very 
valuable on account of its rapid growth. He sold one 
acre of locust-trees fifteen years old for one thousand 
dollars. The wood is much used for paving streets. A 
locust in Omaha, planted twelve years ago, measured 
thirty -one inches four feet from the ground, and was 
thirty-five feet high. The thornless locust is best for 
forests, and the thorny variety for hedges. In the thorny 
variety the thorns are stout, often triple or compound ; 
leaflets lanceolate, oblong, somewhat serrated ; flowers 
greenish and very fragrant ; blossoms the middle of 
June ; pods linear-elongated, from twelve to seventeen 
inches long, often twisted; filled with sweet pulp be- 
tween the seeds. It was named in honor of Gleditsch, 



86 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING . 

a botanist contemporary with Linnaeus. Michaux, sent 
out by France twenty years ago, predicted that it would 
become valuable as a hedge-plant. 

Mr. Helme says : " In 1838 I found this tree growing 
on the Mississippi, from St. Louis to Wisconsin. Those 
on the Mississippi, I think, are not identical with ours, 
for they are less thorny and the bark a darker color." 
A correspondent from Illinois states that if they stand 
near the yellow-locust they are affected with the borer ; 
but ours are not, for a few years since all the yellow- 
locusts in our city were destroyed by the borer, but the 
honey-locusts, standing side by side with them, were not 
affected in the least. They will grow on any soil, wet 
or dry, and receive no injury from cold at thirty-four 
degrees below zero. 

Mr. Helme says : " Six years ago I set fifty rods, one 
foot apart, cut back the second year to one foot from 
the ground, and it would turn stock in four years." 

To plant a hedge, gather the seeds in the fall; in 
April mix them with sand, keep them moist and warm 
until they sprout, then sow in drills two inches deep ; 
set the plants when one year old, cutting to within two 
inches of the ground. At the end of two years cut back 
to three inches, after which trim once a year. A man 
with a pair of twelve-inch shears will trim eighty rods 
per clay, and for a wind-break I consider it invaluable. 
Cut back once a year, and then trim the sides to keep 
them tidy. 

I left ten rods of my hedge as an experiment, and it is 
now six years old and from twelve to fifteen feet high, 
and will turn all large stock. 

A correspondent of mine says he has been successful 
in setting plants three feet apart. I have no doubt a 
good hedge could be thus obtained, for the branches 
grow at nearly right angles with the trees, and they 
would have more room and light in this way and be less 
apt to smother. 



THE LOCUST. 87 

Another authority says : " I raised and set plants one 
hundred and seventy rods in the spring of 1871, have 
trimmed it once, and now it is acknowledged by all who 
have seen it to surpass any hedge they have ever seen. 
And now, in conclusion, I would say, for a hedge do not 
let it get over three feet high ; and, furthermore, time 
will prove it to be the only successful hedge-plant for 
Michigan." 

THE WATER-LOCUST. 

This is a much smaller tree than the honey-locust, but 
its general characteristics are the same. It is found in 
the southern portion of Illinois. It is inferior to the 
wood of the honey-locust, and is not much used even 
where it is the most common. Its height is from forty 
to sixty feet. It is found growing principally on the 
river-banks and in the swamps of Illinois. 

THE YELLOW LOCUST. 

This tree is sparingly produced in its native home — 
Kentucky and western Tennessee — where it attains a 
height of from thirty-five to fifty feet and a diameter of 
ten to twelve inches, and is also successfully cultivated 
as an ornamental tree in many parts of the United States 
as far north as Connecticut. It forms a considerable 
spread of foliage, composed of rows of leaflets, broadly 
oval, smooth, two inches broad and from three to four 
long. The branches, being, like the petioles and leaf- 
nerves, of a yellowish hue, contrast admirably with the 
dark-green of its trunk-bark. It flowers in April and 
May, forming elegant white, pendulous racemes six to 
ten inches long, slightly odoriferous. Its seeds are con- 
tained in flat pods, and mature in the United States in 
the month of August. It is propagated from seed, and 
its favorite soil is a loose, deep, and fertile one. The wood 
of this tree is soft and fine-grained, but is very little made 
use of except for the vegetable coloring which its heart 
imparts for the purpose of dyeing. Botanical interest 



88 TKEES AND TKEE-PL ANTING. 

and ornamental purposes are the chief inducements to 
cultivate this species. 

THE BLACK OR COMMON LOCUST. 

The common locust is indigenous to the country west 
of the Alleghanies as far as Arkansas ; and without the 
maritime parts, to the distance of forty to ninety miles, it 
is planted for purposes of utility and ornament from 
Maine to Georgia, and often attains a height of eighty 
or ninety feet and a diameter sometimes exceeding four 
feet ; but under ordinary instances, or in its wild state, 
it does not ordinarily exceed half these dimensions. 

It is valued for the properties of its wood and the 
beauty of its foliage and flowers. When young its 
branches tend upward, but as the tree increases in age 
they become more horizontal. The bark of its trunk 
and principal branches is very thick and deeply fur- 
rowed, and in young trees is studded with strong hooked 
prickles, which disappear as the tree grows old. This 
tree bears a very agreeable foliage, each leaf being 
composed of opposite leaflets from eight to twelve in 
number. It is particularly adapted for planting along 
roadsides and in the neighborhood of cities and towns, 
and would be very effective for park purposes. It pro- 
duces a perfectly white, sometimes yellowish, flower, 
disposed in pendulous bunches from three to five inches 
long, from which is diffused an agreeable odor. 

The common locust varies considerably in its native lo- 
calities, and numerous varieties have been produced from 
seed, the foliages of which are distinct when the plants 
are young ; so we may regard the several varieties, com- 
monly treated as species, as the result of soil and climate. 
Its growth in favorable soils is fairly rapid, and the dura- 
ble properties of the wood fit it for posts, fencings, axle- 
trees of timber-wagons, and for many other useful pur- 
poses where exposure to weather is necessitated. 



THE LOCUST. 89 



THE ROSE-FLOWERED LOCUST. 

This tree appears to be chiefly confined to the Alle- 
ghanies, where it is found on the banks of rivers in 
Georgia and Carolina, growing to a height varying from 
thirty to forty feet. The bark is of a dull red, particu- 
larly that of young trees and shoots, and is covered with 
a clammy, adhesive substance. The branches are armed 
with spines, and the foliage is thicker and of a darker 
green than that of the common species. Unlike the 
common locust-tree, its flowers, which occur in numerous 
open bunches four or five inches long, are of a beauti- 
ful rose color mixed with white, but are destitute of fra- 
grance. The properties of its wood are similar to those 
of the common locust, but it is considered less durable. 
As an ornamental tree it is rendered conspicuous by its 
large, roseate flowers. It is propagated and treated in 
the same manner as the common species, from which it 
is dissimilar in but very few points. 
4* 



CHAPTEK XVIII. 

THE CHESTNUT. 

A Favorable Notice.— Its Remunerative Returns.— Manner of Setting 
Out and Caring For.— Benefits of Cutting Back.— Ground Suited to 
its Growth.— A Difficulty of its Raising.— Manner of Sowing its 
g eec l._/\Vi n ter Preservation of Plants.— Time to Transplant.— A 
Release from a Difficulty.— Chestnut-planting in Nevada and Pro- 
ductiveness.— Growth of the Chestnut in North Carolina, and its 
Great Growth in Europe.— An Old Tree and its Productive Bear- 
ing.— Uses of Chestnut Wood.— Its Durability.— The Chincapin.— 
Where Found — Quality of its Fruit.— Durability of Wood.— Its 
Growth Influenced by Climate. 

A beautiful tree and a favorite with nearly every one. 
A lot planted in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, eleven years ago, are 
now making a better return than the same number of 
acres in orchard. At Des Moines chestnut-trees four 
years old from the seed have borne fruit. They should 
be set out four thousand to the acre, and gradually 
thinned, as they increase in size, to three hundred to the 
acre. They will then be twelve feet apart. A grove of 
chestnuts may be cut down at twelve or fifteen years of 
age, and in twelve years will be ready for another cut- 
tino\ The growth of the sprouts will be more rapid than 
the original growth of the tree. The stumps should be 
cut low and covered with a thin layer of earth. Side- 
hills and rocky land are the best for chestnut cultivation. 
The great difficulty in growing this tree is to get it start- 
ed properly. Care must be taken to keep the seed from 
rotting or moulding. The seed should be kept through 
the winter in sand, dampened and placed in a cool cellar. 
In the spring plant the chestnuts in rows three feet apart, 



THE CHESTNUT. 91 

and drop the nuts like potatoes, six inches apart, cover- 
ing them with only half an inch of soil. In the fall, be- 
fore frost, cover the young shoots with a litter of straw 
six inches deep. They should be transplanted when one 
year old. This tree has always been considered hard to 
raise, but it has been because it has not been under- 
stood. Treated in the way I describe, twelve chestnuts 
will raise eleven trees. 

In Nevada, California, the proprietor of some public gar- 
dens obtained from France some of the finest specimens 
of chestnuts, and planted them on his place in 1872. In 
1882 the trees bore fruit, and they are described the 
past year as being heavily loaded with fruit, and the 
nuts were the largest ever seen. The burs contained 
from three to seven large-sized nuts, some of them ex- 
ceeding in size a large plum. The climate is admira- 
bly adapted to it. In North Carolina we have trees 
that at six feet from the ground measure from fifteen 
to sixteen feet in circumference. But we read of trees 
in Europe that far exceed our chestnuts of North Car- 
olina in size, viz. : The great chestnut grove of Mount 
Etna, one tree of which is one hundred and sixty feet 
in circumference. Michaux describes one growing near 
Sancerre, in France, which at six feet from the ground 
is thirty feet in circumference. Six hundred years ago 
it was called the Great Chestnut, and, although it is 
believed to be more than one thousand years old, its 
trunk is still sound and its branches annually laden with 
fruit. The principal use of the wood of the chestnut is 
for the inside work of cars and for cabinet-ware ; al- 
though the grain is coarse, yet, when oiled and varnished, 
it makes quite a presentable appearance. It is used for 
making fences, and rails made of this wood have been 
known to last fifty years. 

THE CHINCAPTN. 

This variety of the chestnut on a small scale is found 



92 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

as a shrub in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, 
but in the Southern States it grows to the height of 
thirty or forty feet. The fruit is small, but sweet. The 
wood is much more durable than the chestnut, but on 
account of its small size it will hardly pay any but one 
having the curiosity to raise it. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE BOX-ELDER. 

Its Nativity.— Range of Growth and Soil Suited to its Growth.— Gen- 
eral Appearance and Duration of Life.— Description of its Wood, 
Bark, and Leaf. — Large Specimens, Where Found. — Manner of 
Sowing its Seed.— A Suggestion by Michaux.— Date of Introduc- 
tion into Europe. — Attained Height. 

This tree is a native of the United States and Canada, 
where, especially in bottoms which skirt rivers, in soil 
deep, fertile, and moist, it is most common, and found to 
attain its greatest size. West of the Alleghanies it flour- 
ishes in open ground with trees of other varieties, though 
in such situations its growth is somewhat more stunted. 
It seldom, however, exceeds fifty feet in height, with a 
trunk twenty inches in diameter. 

Its range of growth does not extend beyond the fifty- 
fourth degree of north latitude, and south to the South- 
ern States, where, in Georgia and Tennessee, it thrives, 
and, when cultivated in soil and situations favorable to it, 
attains its amplest dimensions. Its trunk, separating into 
branches at no great height from the ground, forms a 
loose and wide-spreading head of dense foliage, giving to 
it an ornamental appearance. In America, where effect 
and shade are the objects of its raising, it merits atten- 
tion owing to its rapid growth and massive, showy foli- 
age. It is not a long-lived tree, arriving at maturity in 
fifteen or twenty years. Its wood is fine-grained and of 
a yellowish color, variegated at its heart with bluish and 
rose-colored veins. In middle life the proportion of sap- 
wood to heart is large. In color, the bark of this tree, 
when grown, is brown ; but when young the bark is of 



94 TEEES AND TEEE-PLANTING. 

a beautiful pea-green color and smooth surface. Its leaf 
is oval-shaped, terminating in a point, and deeply toothed 
on its edges. 

Some of the large specimens of this tree are to be 
found in Pennsylvania, specimens having been seen grow- 
ing on the Schuylkill Eiver and in Philadelphia of the 
height of fifty feet and a four -foot circumference of 
trunk. 

Its seed, as soon as practicable after gathering, should 
be thickly sown, as about half of them are false, and not 
over one in ten will germinate. Sow in the fall in shal- 
low furrows, and cover only one and a half inches deep 
with earth. In somewhat moist and deep soil the plants 
grow rapidly, and should be protected, during the fall 
and winter, with a covering of straw. Plant them out in 
the spring four feet apart, and they will grow the first 
year ten to sixteen inches. I have seen nursery plants, 
two years old, six feet high and one inch in diameter. 
Box-elders of eleven years old measured thirty inches in 
circumference and were thirty feet high. 

A suggestion from Michaux says that, from its rapid 
growth, if cut down and " layered " it might form a val- 
uable underwood, to be used for fuel, charcoal manufact- 
ure, and other purposes ; but, on trial of this, it has been 
found that the " layer " soon decays. 

The introduction of this tree into England dates from 
1688, and since that time its growth has extended to the 
continent of Europe, where, especially in Austria, a spec- 
imen of it attained the excessive height of eighty feet. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE BIRCH. 

The Canoe-Birch. — Its Romantic and Legendary Connections. — Youth- 
ful Reminiscences. — Its Native Home and Attainable Dimensions. 
— Color and Use of its Bark. — European and American Birch. — 
Their Growth.— Advantages of Dense Sowing. — Its Value as Fuel. 
— Characteristics.— Seed, Where Obtained. — Soil Suited to its Pro- 
duction. — Black Birch. — Its Usual Height. — Its Wood Described. 
— Where Found. — Seed, when Ripe. — Yellow Birch. — Where it 
Thrives. — Height and General Characteristics. — The Red Birch. — 
Its Proportions. — Its Climate. — Seed, when Ripe. — The White 
Birch. — Its Insignificance. — Its Only Virtue. 

Of this tree there are two principal kinds, the white 
or European birch and the American canoe-birch. The 
latter is connected with the legends of our Indians, and 
is emphatically a tree of romance and poetry. The 
birchen rod has had much to do with our public schools, 
and most of our great men have been soundly thrashed 
with it when boys. Both European and American birch- 
es grow to a large size in northern latitudes. 

When planted thickly the young birch grows up very 
straight and graceful. Who of us, when farmer-boys, 
have not cut a birchen rod for our line, and raised the 
speckled beauties from their native stream. Birch makes 
excellent fuel, and is valuable for cabinet-work. In north- 
ern Michigan the canoe-birch grows to a height of sev- 
enty feet. Its bark is white, and the tree highly orna- 
mental. Seed can always be obtained in Wisconsin. The 
seed-bed should be light, sandy loam, and the seed should 
be covered but lightly, and well sheltered from the sun 
until the plants are two or three inches high. 



96 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



BLACK BIRCH. 

This tree is usually from fifty to sixty feet in height ; 
its wood is fine-grained, and very suitable for inside 
finishing, as it takes a high polish. It is found in the 
northern section of our country. The seed is ripe about 
the first of November. 

YELLOW BIRCH. 

This tree also thrives in the cooler portions of our 
country. Its height is sixty or seventy feet ; trunk 
straight and circular; its twigs have a very pleasant 
odor ; its wood is very fine-grained and fit for turning. 
Its seed is ripe about the middle of October. It makes 
excellent fuel. 

RED BIRCH. 

Height, seventy feet, and about two feet in diameter. 
It was named by Michaux. Contrary to the others of 
its species, it thrives best in warm latitudes. Its seeds 
ripen in the beginning of June, and as soon as gathered 
should be sown ; shield the young trees from the sun. 

CANOE-BIRCH. 

This tree is found in the northern portion of our 
country, and in British America, in the regions of the 
Saskatchewan River, it is said to reach from eighteen 
to twenty feet in circumference. The bark is very 
white, and is used by the Indians, voyageurs, trappers, 
and traders for manufacturing the birch canoe, of which 
we hear so much in both the poetry and song of our 
country. It makes excellent firewood, and thrives in 
wet soil. The seeds ripen about the first of July. 

THE WHITE BIRCH. 

This tree is quite insignificant, its only virtue being its 
beauty; its wood is very soft and decays very quickly, 
and does not even make good fuel. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE HICKORY. 

Its Favored Emblematic Character.— Productive Qualities. — Manner 
of Planting for Fruit and for Wood. — The Shellbark Hickory. — 
Its Features, Form, and Character. — Its Twofold Merits. — The 
Thick Shellbark Hickory.— General Characteristics. — Quality of 
its Fruit. — Composition of Leaf. — Pignut Hickory. — Its Size, At- 
tainable Height, and Particular Qualities. — Quality of its Fruit, 
and for What Used.— The Mocker Nut. — Attainable Height and 
Size. — Manner of Growth. — Its Fruit Described. — Distinguishing 
Characteristics. — Probable Reason of its Name. — The Pecan Nut. 
— Its Attainable Height. — Quality of its Wood and Fruit. — Gen- 
eral Appearance and Productiveness. — The Bitter-Nut Hickory. — 
Its Associate Trees. — Where Found and Progressive Decrease. — Its 
Liability to Destruction. 

This emblematic tree of "America, and the representa- 
tive of the character of one of our greatest men, will al- 
ways be a favorite with our people, not only on account 
of its history, but its valuable nut-bearing qualities and 
its wood. 

The shellbark is the best for planting, either for wood 
or for fruit. If planted for nuts it should be kept in the 
nursery until two or three years old, and then trans- 
planted. To make it bear early, dig under and cut the 
tap-root as close to the surface as possible. For timber 
and rapid growth, in transplanting dig the holes deep, 
and see that the tap-root is put in perfectly straight. The 
nuts should be dropped four feet apart each way, and, 
if planted in ground where the trees are to remain, the 
plants should be thinned so as to keep the branches 
from touching. Hickories are rather slow of growth, so 
I would advise that it be transplanted after the first 
5 



98 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

year to the place it is to occupy permanently. A nur- 
sery of young trees should be carefully weeded and cul- 
tivated until they have arrived at such height as to ren- 
der them safe from the encroachment of weeds. 

SHELLBARK HICKORY. 

This is a lofty tree, reaching to the height of eighty 
feet, with a diameter of two feet ; the trunk is of the 
same diameter and without limbs for the greater portion 
of its height. This tree is noted for the exfoliation of 
the outer bark, which is divided into long, narrow, scale- 
like plates, adhering by only one end or the middle. It 
has been found that those trees that have been trans- 
planted bear the best fruit, while those that have not 
make the best timber. This tree merits cultivation 
more than any tree of its species, both for fuel, timber, 
and its fruit, which, to my taste, is much superior to the 
walnut. 

THICK SHELLBARK HICKORY. 

This tree bears a slightly flattened, thick - shelled, 
strongly-pointed nut, with a light, apple-green hull. It is 
a very tall tree, and is sometimes mixed with the shell- 
bark hickory on account of their both having the same 
general characteristics. The leaves are the same color, 
and are veined alike, but differ in being composed of 
seven, and sometimes nine, leaflets, while the leaves of 
the shellbark hickory are invariably composed of five. 
The kernel has a very poor flavor, and is enclosed in a 
thick, hard shell of a light orange color. 

PIGNUT HICKORY. 

This is a large tree, growing to the height of eighty 
feet, and about four feet in diameter. It is found in its 
greatest abundance east of the Alleghanies. It is not 
at all common in our Western States. It is called the 
toughest of the whole hickory genus, and is used where 
toughness and durability are most needed. The nut is 



THE HICKORY. 99 

small, roundish, ovate, hull very thin, and when ripe 
splits in the centre, and adheres to the nut after it has 
fallen from the tree. Kernel very small and usually 
bitter. It is only fed to animals, and is never marketable. 

THE MOCKER NUT. 

This tree grows to the height of fifty or sixty feet, 
and about twenty inches in diameter. It is the slowest 
growing of all the hickories, and hence cultivators will 
hardly care to wait for its growth. It bears a nut nearly 
six-angled, shell very thick and hard, large, heavy husks, 
and of a light Vandyke-brown color. The old trees are 
covered with a thick, rugged, hard bark; wood very 
tough and strong and makes excellent fuel. It probably 
derives its name from the difficulty one experiences in 
extracting the kernel from the hard, heavy shell. 

THE PECAN NUT. 

This tree grows to a height of sixty or seventy feet, 
with a diameter of from two to three feet. This is a 
very beautiful tree ; tall, straight, and well-shaped trunk. 
The timber is inferior to the rest of the hickories, but it 
more than pays the cost of cultivation by the proceeds 
of the sale of its fruit, which is superior to any nut, 
either native or foreign, on account of the excellence of 
its flavor. The nut is thin-shelled, very sweet, and the 
kernel is not divided by partitions. I agree with Mr. 
Bryant in condemning the practice, worthy only of van- 
dals or barbarians, of chopping down the trees to gather 
the fruit, thus diminishing not only the number of trees, 
but the quantity of fruit. This practice of chopping clown 
the pecan-trees cannot be too strongly condemned ; and I 
doubt not, if it were not that it has been practised so much, 
and is still practised, where it can be done with impunity, 
the pecan-nut would be more highly valued and better 
known ; but let it continue a few years longer and the pe- 
can will advance in value as the trees decrease in number. 



100 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



THE BUTTERNUT HICKORY. 

This member of the hickory family I cannot recom- 
mend, on account of its being liable to be attacked by a 
small black beetle, which bores through the inner bark 
and deposits its eggs, which usually number from twenty 
to thirty, in a cell about an inch long. The young, when 
they are hatched, bore in different directions, and thus 
girdle the tree, which soon dies. It is found with the 
black walnut, red elm, laurel oak, and bur oak. It was 
at one time very plentiful in the neighborhood of Prince- 
ton, New Jersey, but owing to the ravages of Scalytiis 
Carym (the small black beetle above mentioned) it has 
become scarce, and continues to become more so every 
year. The wood in the old trees is soft, and the timber 
of the young trees is to be preferred for any purpose 
but fuel. It is found in the Western States on the rich 
bottom lands, and on the outskirts of prairies, where the 
land is deep and rich. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PINES. 

Their Rank among Trees. — Uses to Which Put. — Produce of the 
Pine. — Places Famous for its Growth. — Its Ornamental Advan- 
tages. — The White Pine. — Its Attainable Height and Size. — Scar- 
city of the Pine in New England and Other States, and Cause. 
— Present Supply, from Where Procured. — Future Prospects of 
Pineries. — Its Accommodating Growth. — Soil Suited to its Growth. 
— Effect of Varied Soils on Quality of its Wood. — An Objection 
to its Ornamental Qualities. — Properties of its Wood as Fuel. — 
A Suggestion on Planting the Pine.— The Red Pine. — Its Nativ- 
ity. — Attainable Height. — Soil Suited to its Growth. — General Ap 
pearance. — Durability and Quality of its Wood. — Its Beautify- 
ing Advantages. — Experienced Difficulties of Raising.— Practised 
Roguery in Selling Seed.— Gray and Scrub Pine.— Its Diffused 
Range of Growth and Attainable Size. — For What Used and for 
What Recommended. — Its Advantages for Ornamental Purposes. — 
Its Easy Culture. —The Yellow Pine: Where Found.— Its Sub- 
stituted Name. — Peculiarities of its Growth. —Soil Suited to its 
Abundant Growth. — Its Good Qualities and Chief Uses. — Pitch 
Pine. — Its Confined Range of Growth.— Soil Suited to its Growth, 
and its Attainable Height. — Its Particular Properties. — Its Chief 
Uses. — Its Undesirable Peculiarities. — Stone Pine. — Where 
Found.— Chief Uses and Adaptability.— Properties of its Seed and 
Durability of its Wood.— Reason of its Non-extensive Cultivation. 

— Loblolly Pine: Its Disadvantages and General Uselessness.— 
Scotch Pine.— Its Relative Merits Compared with the White Pine. 

— Its Usefulness and Recommended Culture. — Austrian Pine: 
as Recommended by Bryant, Loudon, and Bayreuth. — Where 
Found — Purpose for which Cultivated.— Its Durability and Other 
Advantages.— Scrub Pine.— Where Found and its Uselessness.— 
Corsican Pine.— Its Nativity, Yaluableness, Attained Height, and 
Manner of Growth. — Its Ornamental Advantages. — Table-Moun- 
tain Pine. — Its Height and Appearance. — Where Found and Gene- 
ral Worthlessness. 

This genus ranks among our first forest - trees, and is 
more widely used for building purposes than any tree 



102 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

we have. The greatest amount is produced from two 
species. From the pine is produced immense quantities 
of pine-tar, resin, and pitch, North and South Carolina 
taking the lead, " The Barrens " of these two states be- 
ing justly famous, not only for the quantity but for the 
quality. But not only is it useful for building purposes, 
but also for ornamental purposes, the only trouble being 
that these trees are found mostly west of the Eocky 
Mountains. 

THE WHITE PINE. 

This is one of the best-known of our American trees, 
and reaches a height of from one hundred to one hun- 
dred and eighty feet, with a diameter of from two and a 
half to six feet. So much of our pine has been cut and 
shipped to the Old World that, where the pine was for- 
merly abundant, as in New England, northern New York, 
and Pennsylvania, it has now become scarce, and large 
tracts that were thought to be inexhaustible are now 
bare and devoid of pine. The Northwestern States at 
present furnish nearly all of our pine, but it is needless 
to expect even here a renewal of the pine, for the tide 
of immigration is so great that, before a second supply 
will have time to grow, the country will be populated, 
and instead of pine -forest we will have comfortable 
farms and cities. The white pine is a hardy tree, and 
accommodates itself to almost every variety of soil. The 
wood of the white pine that is grown on dry uplands is 
harder, more resinous, stronger, and has a much coarser 
grain than that grown in moister soils. It is a very 
graceful tree, its foliage being soft, its color a deep, rich 
green ; the only objection to it as an ornamental tree 
being the formal arrangement of its branches in whorls, 
but this is lost sight of in a large tree. Its wood burns 
freely, but does not give much heat ; hence it is not fit for 
much until it has reached a convenient size for hewing 
into timber, or for lumber. Hence I would suggest that, 
in planting the young trees, they be set eight feet apart, 



THE PINES. 103 

and the intervening spaces be filled with trees of easier 
propagation, which may be cut out and used before the 
pines become crowded. Great care should be taken to 
preserve the leading shoots of the young pines, as they 
are very tender, and apt to be broken by the intervening 
branches. 

THE RED PINE. 

This tree is common in the northern part of the 
United States, a portion of the British provinces, and 
also in some parts of Michigan and Wisconsin. 

It frequently reaches the height of from eighty to 
ninety feet, with a diameter of two feet. It grows in 
dry, sandy soils, and has a beautiful straight trunk, and 
furnishes planks forty feet long without a blemish. The 
wood, for some uses, is preferable to the white pine, as 
it is heavy, strong, and very durable ; it also is a very 
beautiful tree, and is sometimes planted around private 
residences in the rural districts on account of the beauty 
of its trunk and branches. 

The only trouble one experiences in the cultivation of 
this tree is the difficulty in procuring the young trees 
for planting, as seven eights of the trees bought for cul- 
tivation usually perish during removal, no matter how 
carefully handled ; it is very difficult, nay, in fact, im- 
possible, to give a succinct reason for this, as the young 
trees of the red pine that are raised in nurseries are usu- 
ally hardy and strong plants that transplanting would 
not seem to affect. The seed of this tree is also very 
difficult to obtain, and " some rogues have been known 
to sell the seed-cones of the gray pine to unsophisticated 
people for those of the red pine, which they much re- 
semble." 

GRAY OR SCRUB PINE. 

This tree is found very widely diffused all along the 
northern portion of the United States, and thence to 
the Arctic Ocean ; in lower Canada and Labrador it is 
only a straggling shrub from three to ten feet in height. 



104 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

In Wisconsin it is a middle-sized tree. Messrs. Lapham, 
Knapp, and Crocker, in their report on the forests of 
Wisconsin, speak of it as reaching the height of sixty 
or seventy feet, and furnishing hewn lumber thirty or 
forty feet long and eight inches square. 

The logs are seldom sawn into lumber, as they are 
light and hardly ever found suitable. The fibre is 
straight and the wood tough. I would only recommend 
this tree for cultivation as a tree fit for fuel, as it burns 
readily and gives great heat. Loudon speaks very high- 
ly of the gray pine as an ornamental tree, but I have 
never admired it, as the old cones cling to the branches 
and turn black, and remain so for years ; this, with the 
number of dead twigs scattered promiscuously over the 
branches, give the trees while yet comparatively young 
the appearance of age and decrepitude. It is easily 
transplanted and needs no especial care. 

YELLOW PINE. 

This tree is found from the New England States to 
Florida. In the West it is found in Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, and Missouri; and Bryant claims to have found 
small trees among the sand-hills at the south end of 
Lake Michigan. In St. Louis considerable quantities 
of this lumber were brought from the Gasconade River 
and sold under the name of Gasconade pine. Michaux 
claims for this tree, which grows to the height of fifty 
or sixty feet, that " the concentrical circles of the wood 
are six times as numerous in a given space as those of 
the loblolly or pitch pines." It grows most abundantly 
in the poorest soils. Its heart is fine grained and moder- 
ately resinous, which renders it compact without great 
weight. Its chief uses are in flooring, and for the masts, 
yards, and decks of vessels. The tree is of moderately 
slow growth. I would recommend the yellow pine not 
only on account of its qualities as a timber tree, but also 
on account of its beauty, its limbs forming from the top 
a regular cone. 



THE PINES. 105 



PITCH PINE. 

This tree is confined to the Atlantic States, it never be- 
ing found west of the Alleghanies, and occupies, like most 
of its brethren, sandy, poor soil ; it seldom exceeds from 
thirty-five to forty feet in height, with a diameter of 
from twelve to eighteen inches. Sometimes it reaches 
the height of about eighty feet, but this is only when 
found in swamp-land. The wood of this tree is unusu- 
ally resinous, knotty, and heavy, three fourths of the 
wood being sap-wood. The chief use of this tree is for 
the amount of pitch it yields. It also makes very good 
fuel, as it burns with a steady, strong flame and gives 
great heat. I would not recommend it for culture, as 
there are so many better varieties of pine that far ex- 
ceed it in value, both as a lumber tree and for fuel. 
Loudon recommends it as an ornamental tree, but I can- 
not say that I admire his taste, as it is very knotty and 
generally has a great many excrescences. 

STONE PINE. 

This tree is found extensively in the Alps and in Si- 
beria ; its chief use is for carving and fancy inlaid work, 
it being especially adapted for this work on account of 
the absence, or nearly so, of the grain ; the wood is soft 
and very durable. The seeds yield a very odoriferous 
oil, and are sometimes used for food. This tree is a 
very handsome tree, and the only reason for not culti- 
vating it extensively is its slowness of growth, which 
fact, I dare say, has kept it from becoming as well 
known as other less valuable of its species. 

LOBLOLLY OK OLDFIELD PINE. 

This tree cannot be given much space, as it is not only 
inferior asa" thing of beauty " to many others of its 
brethren, but its timber is very spongy and not worth 
anything, excepting where other lumber is hard to find. 



106 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

The grain is straight and without knots, but is composed 
mostly of sap-wood, and warps very badly on exposure 
to the weather. 

SCOTCH PINE. 

This tree, which very much resembles the yellow pine, 
has given rise to a great deal of controversy as to its 
relative merits as compared with the white pine. Euro- 
pean arborists claim that it is much superior to the white 
pine, but this claim Americans refuse to admit ; but it is 
hardly fair to make a comparison, as the two trees are 
so dissimilar. I cannot too strongly recommend this 
tree, as it is easily cultivated, very hardy, and widely 
known as a first-class lumber tree. 

AUSTRIAN PINE. 

- This tree, which to my mind, on close inspection, is 
stiff and formal, is recommended by Bryant, Loudon, Bay- 
reuth, and others as a very ornamental tree. It is found 
mostly in Austria and the adjacent country ; is cultivated 
chiefly for its turpentine and as fuel ; its timber is very 
tough and durable. It has a very picturesque appear- 
ance when seen singly from a distance. It makes splen- 
did wind-breaks. 

SCRUB PINE. 

Found in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and some of the 
adjacent states. It is a low, dwarfish tree, and is fit for 
absolutely nothing, being the poorest one of its species. 

CORSICAN PINE. 

This tree, which is a native of Corsica, is very valuable 
as a lumber tree, and reaches the height of from one 
hundred to one hundred and forty feet. It is very short- 
lived and of very rapid growth, growing very nearly 
three feet in one year; its growth is just about two 
thirds as fast again as the Scotch pine. Loudon speaks 
of a tree in the garden of the Horticultural Society of Lon- 
don which at the age of twelve years, in 1834, was twenty 



THE PINES. 107 

feet high, and in 1837 was twenty-five feet high. It is 
strongly recommended for ornamental purposes, but I 
doubt if plants of this species can be safely handled 
here ; but if in any place, it would in all probability be 
Kansas or some of the adjacent states. 

TABLE-MOUNTAIN PINE. 

Height about forty feet, numerous branches, habits 
and general appearance of the Scotch pine. I cannot 
recommend it either for lumber or as an ornamental 
tree. It is found chiefly on the Blue Eidge Mountains. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CEDARS. 

White Cedar. — Where Found and Soil Suited to its Growth. —Its 
Chief Uses. — Its Ornamental Value. — The Red Cedar. — Its At- 
tainable Growth, Usefulness, and General Appearance. — Its Vege- 
tating Properties. — Reasons for its Non-extensive Culture. — Com- 
mon Juniper. — Its Nativity.— The Attainable Growth of Varie- 
ties. — Its Medicinal and other Properties. — How Propagated. — 
Care Necessary for the Protection of Young Plants. — The Cedran- 
tree. — Where Indigenous. — Its Antidotary Properties. 

WHITE CEDAR. 

This tree is found in swampy ground all along the 
Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida : its chief 
uses are in the manufacture of shingles and wooden- 
ware for household purposes. I have seldom seen it 
advertised in nursery catalogues, and I am in doubt as 
to whether it would grow to any height in any other 
locality than that which it at present occupies. It is 
a very slow grower, and a very ornamental tree, which 
fact alone should entitle it to more consideration than it 
receives. 

RED CEDAR. 

This tree grows to the height of thirty or forty feet, 
with a diameter of twelve or fifteen inches ; it is used 
for posts, rails, rustic work, and ship-building, but more 
especially for use in the manufacture of lead-pencils and 
penholders. It has long, spreading branches that are 
sometimes longer than the trunk of the tree; others 
are more conical, but these are more generally those that 
are cultivated and placed in shape by careful training. 
It is very slow of growth, and as an ornamental tree it 



CEDAKS. 



109 



will not do, becoming at an early age ragged and un- 
sightly in appearance. Seed vegetates the second year. 
Protect from the sun when it first grows. It will never 
be extensively cultivated for timber, on account of its 
slow growth. 

COMMON JUNIPER. 

This tree is a native of both the Old and the New 
World, but our American variety is nothing more than 
a straggling shrub. It is the chief food of a great many 
varieties of birds. The European variety under favora- 
ble circumstances reaches a height of from eighteen to 
twenty feet, with a diameter of from six to eight inches, 
but in Europe they grow to a considerable size. The 
berries of this tree are used in the manufacture of medi- 
cines, and as an extract to flavor liquors, especially gin. 
The Scotch and Swedish varieties are chiefly used as or- 
namental trees, and as such merit attention. 

They are chiefly propagated by cuttings rooted by 
means of a bottom-heat. Great care should be taken 
to preserve the young trees from the frost, as a great 
many have been destroyed by severe winters. 

THE CEDRAN-TREE. 

This is a species of the family of cedars, and is found 
indigenous only in Central America. It is of more 
stunted growth than any of its brethren of northern lat- 
itudes, and bears a large bean, similar in size, shape, and 
color to a horse-chestnut, but very brittle. To Mr. John 
P. Curry is due the honor of having first introduced this 
tree to public notice. His attention was first called to 
the cedran-tree while on the Isthmus as consulting 
engineer for the Panama Eailroad Company, by ob- 
serving the neutralizing effect that its beans exercised 
upon a snake-bitten buzzard. The bird was struck by 
a rattlesnake, and then made its way to a cedran-tree, 
and after pecking at one of its beans flew off apparent- 
ly uninjured. A native to whom Mr. Curry related the 



110 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

incident scouted the idea of a rattlesnake-bite being 
dangerous, and exemplified his confidence in the effi- 
ciency of an antidote by bringing a snake of twelve 
rattles the following day, and allowing himself to be 
bitten by it. He then took a cedran bean, and, having 
chewed it, swallowed a portion, and saturated the wound 
with his saliva ; after which treatment no disagreeable 
feelings or unpleasant effects resulted from the bite. 
Mr. Curry, after having been thus satisfied of the mar- 
vellous curative powers of these beans, verified his ex- 
perience by writing to the Alia California newspaper, 
and carried about a peck of the beans to San Francisco, 
where many successful experiments of their efficiency 
were made by Professor Lanzwert, a German physician, 
on dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., which were allowed to be 
bitten by rattlesnakes. After these tests the neutraliz- 
ing power of these beans was found never to fail when 
applied to human beings bitten by these reptiles. 

Very few physicians, however, had any knowledge of 
the curative properties possessed by this tree until a tinct- 
ure was manufactured from its roots by Parke Davis 
& Co. about three years ago. Its extracts are consid- 
ered a safer antidote than whiskey or alcohol, producing 
as they do a chemical reaction of the blood in from six 
to eight hours ; but for snake-bite their neutralizing ef- 
fect is almost instantaneous after being taken into the 
system. They are also a cure for gout, and an antidote 
for hydrophobia. 

Mr. Curry's experience, since, further evinces the fre- 
quency of rattlesnake-bite being completely neutralized 
and cured by simply eating a portion of a bean, or taking 
a tea made from half a bean. 

Therefore it would seem, from the incident of the 
buzzard having been bitten, and its instinctive knowl- 
edge of the antidotary power of this tree, that to science 
has been given a remedy for prevention of the effects 
of so many occasional diseases before considered incur- 



CEDARS. Ill 



able, thus proving conclusively that nature is continual- 
ly making experiments, as well as man, and bringing to 
observing human beings, through the instincts of ani- 
mals, birds, and even insects, grand discoveries in sci- 
ence, meteorology, and medicine. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

LINDENS. 

Where Found.— Their Classification.— Quality and Durability of their 
Wood. — Their Ornamental and other Uses.— European Linden. — 
Its Principal Uses and Growth.— White Linden.— Description of 
Leaf.— Range of Growth.— A Specified Variety.— Buffalo Berry.— 
Its Attainable Height and Deportment.— How Propagated.— Its Es- 
teemed Quality and Relative Resemblance. — Quality and Useful- 
ness of its Fruit.— Manner of Planting for Fruit Production.— Ja- 
pan Sophora. — Its Nativity.— How best Propagated.— Quality of 
its Wood and for What Used.— Soil Favorable to its Thrift.— Sas- 
safras. — Its Domestic Uses. — Properties and Uses of its Wood. — 
How Propagated. — Its Ornamental Advantages. 

The lindens are found in the Northern and Middle 
States, along the Alleghany Mountains, and in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. These trees may be classed with those 
that cannot be used for lumber until they have arrived 
at quite a large size. It takes the place of the pine for 
a great many things, its wood being soft and light, and 
of very little durability ; it is much used as an ornamental 
tree. The inner bark of the tree is separated from the 
rough outer bark by saturation, and is much used as a 
twine by gardeners, etc. 

EUROPEAN LINDEN. 

The principal use of this tree is the manufacture of 
" bass matting," which is imported in quantity from Eu- 
rope. It is quite a large tree, and well worthy of cul- 
tivation as a shade-tree. It sheds its leaves quite early 
in the autumn. 

WHITE LINDEN. 

The leaves of this tree are smooth, bright green above, 
and silvery underneath. It is not found as far north as 



LINDENS. 113 

many of its brothers, nor is it as large a tree. The com- 
mon weeping linden of our nurseries is of this species. 

BUFFALO BEKEY. 

This tree grows to a height of from twenty to thirty 
feet. It is propagated from the seed or by suckers. It 
is esteemed more for its fruit than for its lumber ; it 
much resembles the buckthorn, and I doubt not would 
make an equally good hedge ; its fruit is manufactured 
into pies, tarts, preserves, and a great many household 
delicacies. The trees are strictly diceceous, and both 
sexes must be planted in close proximity to obtain fruit. 

JAPAN SOPHORA. 

This tree is a native of Japan. It is best propagated 
by layers or from the seed. Little is known of this tree 
in this country excepting that it is hard, compact, and 
fit for ornamental work. It does not thrive in Illinois 
prairie-soil, but under favorable auspices is said to grow 
quite rapidly farther south, 

SASSAFEAS. 

This tree is surely the old woman's friend. "Who has 
not gone to some old village grandmother and been dosed 
with sassafras-tea, much to the edification of the old lady, 
and then swore like a pirate or looked helplessly down 
one's nose and waited for further developments ? It is 
found as a shrub or tree of some small size. The bark, 
of late, has much gone out of date as a medicine. 

Bedsteads made of sassafras-wood are never infested 
with vermin. The wood is not very strong, but fine, close- 
grained, and fit for cabinet-work. It is propagated by 
suckers or by seed. 

It is a handsome, ornamental tree, and I would recom- 
mend its culture around some of the beautiful homesteads 
scattered about the country that have a great many less 
ornamental trees than the sassafras, and whose appear- 
ance would be much benefited by it. 
5* 



CHAPTEE XXY. 

LARCHES. 

The Black Larch, or Tamarack. — Its Singular Beauty, Attainable 
Height, and Appearance. — Its Range of Growth. — Soil Suited 
to its Growth, with Difference of Opinion. — Its Durability and 
Usefulness.— A Practised Fraud Unearthed. — The European Larch. 
— Its Attainable Height, Range, Rate of Growth, and General Con- 
tour. — Its Ornamental and Timber Excellence. — Durability and 
Uses of its Wood. — Larch-growing in England and Scotland. — 
Ages of Maturity. — Foreign Testimony on its Durability. — Its 
Adapted Uses.— Places Favorable to its Propagation.— Where to 
Select and Obtain Seed.— Mr. Thomas Lake's Experience in Grow- 
ing Larch. 

THE BLACK LARCH, OR TAMARACK. 

This singularly beautiful tree grows to the height of 
from ninety to one hundred feet, with a diameter of 
from two to three feet. It is perfectly straight, with 
leaves of a light-bluish color. It grows as far north as 
Hudson's Bay, but is found in the United States in only 
swampy soil. I, for one, cannot understand this, as in 
British America it thrives in almost any soil. It is a 
very strong and durable wood, and among our most 
valuable for timber and rafter-beams ; uprights made of 
it are said to last a great length of time. 

It is a handsome and a very ornamental tree. That 
which grows the farthest north is far superior to our 
swamp-growing species. 

Some unsophisticated horticulturists have been swin- 
dled into buying the black larch as the European spe- 
cies — a deception that is very easy of accomplishment 
with those not acquainted with the different varieties of 
trees. 



LARCHES. 115 



EUROPEAN LARCH. 

This tree rises to the height of from ninety to one 
hundred feet, and in general contour much resembles 
the black larch. It is found in the Alps of France 
and Switzerland, of the Tyrol, and in the Carpathian 
Mountains, and in various mountainous districts of Eu- 
rope. Thanks to the assiduous care of the Duke of 
Athol, it has been planted in England as a forest-tree, 
and duly recognized as one of much excellence both as 
an ornamental and a timber tree. It is very durable, 
and adapted to a variety of uses, and is daily growing 
in greater demand. 

Loudon says : " The rate of growth of the larch in the 
climate of London is from twenty to twenty-five feet in 
ten years from the seed, and nearly as great on the de- 
clivities of hills and mountains in the Highlands of 
Scotland. A larch cut down near Dunkeld, after it had 
been sixty years planted, was one hundred and ten feet 
high, and contained one hundred and sixty cubic feet of 
timber. In a suitable situation, the timber is said to 
come to perfection in forty years, while that of the pi- 
naster requires sixty years, and that of the Scotch pine 
eighty years." 

W: C. Bryant, in his excellent work on trees, says: 
" The larch, planted four feet apart each way, may in 
ten years be large enough for fence-posts. At that dis- 
tance, about twenty-seven hundred would grow on an 
acre." 

A great deal of foreign testimony may be cited in re- 
gard to the durability of this tree, as, for instance, tried 
by driving a post made of it alongside an oaken post in 
the Thames Eiver, where the tide rose and wet it and 
then subsided and left it exposed to the drying influence 
of the sun. The oak posts were renewed twice before 
any alteration was noticed in the larch. The vine-props 
of a great many German vineyards are made of this tim- 



116 TREES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

ber, and have been handed down from generation to gen- 
eration, and will still be handed down, in an almost per- 
fect state of preservation. M. Brissel de Monville says 
that he has examined trees in the forests of Switzerland 
that have been struck by lightning and badly shattered, 
and yet the heart-wood is still perfectly sound, and the 
uninjured limbs continue to grow in a perfectly healthy 
condition ; and even trees that had lain on the ground 
for years and become thoroughly dried out have not 
rotted, but have become brittle with old age and may 
still be scaled off. It is the best timber for rails, fences, 
etc., and anything that requires to withstand the weather. 

The larch appears to grow best on uplands, and I doubt 
not with a little care and attention some of our own hills 
and prairies could be covered with a luxuriant growth of 
larches. It does not seem to thrive on low, damp plains, 
and I would not recommend an} r .one to try it in such 
places, as a failure might prejudice them against a tree 
that is destined to become one of our most useful and 
ornamental trees. 

Great care should be taken, in the purchase and selec- 
tion of seed, to obtain it from thoroughly reliable parties, 
as large quantities of worthless old stuff are sold for 
good seed that no one could make grow. I would rec- 
ommend seed from the Tyrol in Switzerland, or from the 
Yalais of Switzerland, both of which are usually pur- 
chased by the horticulturists of France, Germany, and 
Scotland. 

In closing these remarks about the European larch, I 
would like to call attention to the experience of Mr. 
Thomas Lake, a resident of Winnebago County, Illinois. 
In a recent letter Mr. Lake says: "A few. years since I 
saw in the Rural New-Yorker the European larch ad- 
vertised for sale by Robert Douglas & Sons, "Waukegan, 
Illinois, and being well acquainted with the fast growth 
and value of those trees in my native home, England, I 
bought and planted nine thousand, and have but to re- 



LABCHES. 117 

gret that I did not multiply that number by ten at that 
time. They were quite small when I bought them — 
many not larger than a lead-pencil and not over a foot 
high. My ignorance as to how this climate would suit 
them was the only reason I did not venture to plant 
more at that time. Many of those trees are now stand- 
ing thirty feet high and six to seven inches through at 
base, as straight as an arrow, and much admired by those 
who see them. My mode of planting is to plough the 
ground deep — the deeper the better — and make it as 
mellow as possible. I do not advocate deep planting. 
I mark out with the plough furrows four feet apart each 
way. As I plant, I settle the fine earth firmly around 
the roots with my foot. Get the ground ready as early 
in the spring as possible for your trees, as the English 
larch is about the first tree that starts. At corn-plant- 
ing time I planted two grains or more of corn on the 
south side of each little tree ; if more than two grew, I 
pulled them up. The corn-stalks acted as a shade for 
the young trees through the heat and drought of sum- 
mer, and I think it saved many, as the season was ex- 
tremely dry. 

" Many think that when they have planted, their work 
is ended, but it is just begun if one is resolved to suc- 
ceed. I kept the young larches well cultivated with the 
corn-cultivator, not allowing any weeds or grass to grow. 
I harvested corn enough to pay for the labor, and pro- 
duced the largest ears grown on the farm. The reason 
of this was that there were only two stalks to the hill, 
and they were well and often tended. I followed the 
same course the next season, and intended to do so the 
third, but in this I was prevented, as the trees had grown 
so fast that I could not get the horse and cultivator 
through without injuring them. That season they cov- 
ered the ground and choked out the grass and weeds — 
so ended my labor." 



CHAPTEK XXYI. 

THE MAGNOLIAS. 

The Cucumber-tree. — Its Range and Manner of Growth. — Its At- 
tainable Height and Ornamental Character. — How Propagated. — 
Yellow Cucumber - tree. — Where Found. — Its Beauty and Or- 
namental Character. — Quality and Durability of its Wood. — A 
Reason for its Scarcity. — Small Magnolia, Sweet Bay. — Its At- 
tainable Height. — Its Limited Range and Exceptional Ornament. 
— A Perfect Specimen Described. — How to Preserve its Seed and 
Young Plants. — Great-leaved Magnolia — Its Rarity and Remark- 
able Characteristics. — Umbrella-tree. — Its Resemblance to the Great- 
leaved Magnolia. — Its Range of Growth and Favorable Soil. — 
Its Usual Height. — Its Artistic Beauty, Odoriferous Qualities, and 
Peculiar Tendency. — Ear - leaved Magnolia, or Ear - leaved Um- 
brella-tree. — Where Found. — Its Height. — Its Pleasing and Distin- 
guishing Features. — Yulan Magnolia. — Its Foreign Nativity and 
Recent Introduction into the United States. — Its Distinctive Char- 
acter and Odoriferous Production. — The Foliage of Young Trees De- 
scribed. — Recommended Specimens. — The Conspicuous-flowered 
Magnolia. — Its Distinguishing Difference. — The Empress Alex- 
andria's Conspicuous-flowered Magnolia. — Date of Introduction 
into England. — Its Parallel of Thrift and its Floral Productiveness. 
Manner of Planting. — Magnolia Purpurea. — ts Nativity. — Color 
of Bloom. — How Grown, and Medicinal Properties. 

THE CUQUMBER-TREE. 

This tree is found in western New York, through Ohio 
and Indiana, southern Illinois, and south to the Gulf of 
Mexico. It is about the largest of its species except- 
ing the big laurel. It is of very rapid growth, fine 
shape, and of an ornamental character. Unlike any 
other magnolia, the flowers of this tree add very little 
to its beauty, as they consist of six twisted, scraggy pe- 
tals, without any beauty or special color. Its wood is of 
the same order as the linden, bass wood, etc., and is sel- 



THE MAGNOLIAS. 119 

dom used for any purpose where other lumber can be 
obtained. The tree should be propagated by layers, and 
the seed sown while in a moist state, as it will not ger- 
minate if once dry. Shade the young plants from the 
sun when they first start to grow, and during the first 
period of cold weather. 

YELLOW CUCUMBER-TREE. 

This tree is found in Georgia and South Carolina 
chiefly ; it is noted for the extreme beauty of its large 
yellow flowers, which form quite a contrast to its rich 
green foliage. It is one of the most ornamental of its 
genus, and is as hardy as any of its species, notwithstand- 
ing what Loudon says to the contrary, as it will with- 
stand the Massachusetts winters. Its wood is on a par 
with that of the cucumber-tree, and is not used for build- 
ing purposes. 

SMALL MAGNOLIA, SWEET BAT. 

This tree, which grows to the height of thirty or forty 
feet, is seldom found west of the Alleghany Mountains. 
It is one of the most ornamental of an ornamental spe- 
cies ; its leaves are large, of a dark-green glossy color on 
top, and of a creamy white underneath. In the South 
this tree is grown all the year round. The most perfect 
tree of this variety that I have ever seen was in the 
grounds of Girard College, Philadelphia. It rose to a 
height of about twenty-five feet, perfectly symmetrical, 
and it seemed as if there was not a branch or a leaf out 
of place ; and I remember to this day how the air was 
perfumed for some distance around it. The seeds soon 
become rancid, and should be kept in some damp place 
or in rotten wood until they are ready for setting out. 
When young, the plants, which do not grow very fast, 
should be shielded from the sun. 



120 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



GREAT-LEAVED MAGNOLIA. 

This is one of the most uncommon of our American 
trees. It is not found in abundance anywhere, and is 
chiefly remarkable on account of the size of its leaves 
and flowers. Its leaves are two and three feet long, and 
its flowers from ten to twelve inches across ; the wood 
is soft and of no practicable value. The tree is apt to 
be hurt by high winds. 

UMBRELLA-TREE. 

This tree much resembles the great-leaved magnolia 
in the length of its leaves. It is found in deep, rich, cool 
soil, from western New York to the Gulf of Mexico. 
The usual height of the umbrella-tree is about thirty 
feet, which it seldom exceeds. The leaves are from two 
to two and a half feet in length, with a width of from 
six to eight inches, and form quite a beautiful and ar- 
tistic curve, hence the name umbrella-tree. Its flowers 
are large and beautiful, and from six to eight inches in 
breadth. They have quite a sweet though rather heavy 
odor. The terminal buds of this tree are very tender 
and apt to be injured by the cold. It also has a ten- 
dency to throw out suckers at its base ; these should be 
carefully trimmed off, or they will sap the body of the tree. 

EAR-LEAVED MAGNOLIA, EAR-LEAVED TJMBRELLA-TREE. 

This tree is only found at the base of the Alleghanies. 
Its height is about forty feet, and it is distinguished for 
the beauty of its flowers. Cultivators prefer this species 
to any of its genus, on account of its pleasing fragrance. 
It is hardy around Philadelphia and farther south. It 
is not very plentiful anywhere. Its leaves are from 
eight to twelve inches long, heart-shaped at the base, and 
smooth on both sides. The branches are slenderer than 
the rest of its family. It bears a white flower, from 
five to seven inches in breadth. 



THE MAGNOLIAS. 121 

YULAN MAGNOLIA. 

This tree has but lately been tried in this country, and 
can as yet hardly be pronounced upon. In all probabil- 
ity it will prove a success. It can hardly be called a tree, 
however, but only a shrub. It bears a beautiful white 
flower, which makes its appearance before the leaves, 
and has a very sweet, penetrating odor. It is found in 
greatest profusion about New York, where it is hardiest. 
In young trees the leaves are from six to eight inches 
broad, and three to four inches across the widest portion. 

I would especially recommend the following for culti- 
vation: Conspicuous - flowered magnolia and Empress 
Alexandria's. In the conspicuous - flowered magnolia, 
though very closely resembling the other species, one 
accustomed to trees would distinguish the difference by 
the odor of the blossoms and in the thickness of the 
branches, the conspicuous -flowered magnolia having 
much the stoutest branches. The Empress Alexan- 
dria's conspicuous-flowered magnolia was first brought 
into England by Sir James ^Banks about the year 1788, 
where, after a hard struggle, it at length, after eight or 
ten years, attracted attention, and became one of the 
leading hot-house shrubs. It flowers every year, and 
thrives best in the neighborhood and about the same 
parallel as London, New York, and Philadelphia. To 
give some idea of the immense number of flowers this 
tree bears, I will cite an instance from Browne's work 
on trees. He says : " An original imported plant, trained 
against a wall at Woombybury, in England, measured 
tweuty-seven feet in height, and covered a space later- 
ally of twenty-four feet, and had on it, in April, 1835, 
five thousand flowers. 

This tree will thrive in any rich, free soil, properly 
drained and slightly enriched. As a background, it 
should have an ivy-covered wall, or some kind of ever- 
green shrub or plant, on account of its bearing flowers 
6 



122 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

before leaves. Plant in pots after taking the small shrub 
from tree. Keep for first two years in pots, and then 
set out. By this means we may escape the danger from 
frost, as the young trees are very easily nipped. 

" MAGNOLIA PURPUREA." 

This plant, first introduced into England about the 
year 1790, is a native of Japan. Its flowers are purple 
without and white on the inside. It should be grown 
from the seed in loose earth slightly enriched. The 
bark is used medicinally, and emits a very pleasant odor 
when bruised. This plant is not well known in this 
country. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

YELLOW WOOD. 

Its Rarity and Limited Height, — Where Found and General Char- 
acteristics. — Manner of Preserving and Sowing its Seed. — The 
Dogwood. — Cornel Dogwood. — Its Singularity of Species and 
Diffused Growth. — Its Ornamental and Useful Advantages. — 
Method of Preparing and Sowing its Seed. — The Jamaica Dog- 
wood. — Description and Medicinal Properties. — The Date Plum. 
— Persimmon. — Its Usual Height and Size. — Peculiarities of its 
Foliage and Bark. — Effect of Frost on its Fruit. — Description 
and Uses of its Wood. — Preserving its Seed. — The Mulberry. — 
Red Mulberry. — Where Found, Attainable Height, and Manner 
of Growth. — Durability and Uses of its Wood. — Its Ornamental 
Value. — How to Obtain its Seed. — The Black Mulberry. — Its For- 
eign Origin. — Its Comparative Growth and Productiveness. — Its 
Dedication. — Weight of its Wood per Cubic Foot. — Effect of Age 
on its Fruitfulness. — The White Mulberry-tree, — Its Main Dis- 
tinguishing Feature. — Its Growth. — Countries to which Indige- 
nous. — Purpose for which Introduced into the United States, aud 
Results. 

This is a rare tree, and seldom exceeds forty feet in 
height. It is found in Kentucky and Tennessee, and 
according to William C. Bryant is much more hardy sev- 
eral degrees farther north. The foliage is quite brilliant 
and has a very sweet odor, only, to my notion, a little 
heavy and dead. The flowers are in long, pendulous 
clusters. This tree would make quite a valuable timber 
tree ; but, owing to its scarcity, it has never been used. 
When first planted it is said to be of slow growth, but 
after the first two or three years takes a sudden start, 
goes ahead quite rapidly, and soon reaches its full height. 
The seed of this tree should be kept in rotten wood, 
or in damp sand, during the winter, and covered very 



124 TKEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

lightly in the spring. If it is sown dry it will not vege- 
tate until the next year. 

THE DOGWOOD. CORNEL DOGWOOD. 

This is the only species of dogwood in the United 
States. It is found in nearly every state of the Union, 
and is from twenty to thirty feet high. It has a diame- 
ter of from ten to twelve inches. * The wood is hard, 
strong, heavy, has a very fine grain, and is used for 
small panel work, and for almost anything where it is 
necessary to give a high polish. The flowers are small 
and form in clusters, surrounded by four large white 
leaves. It also bears a red berry, which forms a pleas- 
ant contrast to the large white leaves, and makes the 
dogwood one of our most ornamental trees. The seeds 
of the dogwood require from two to three years to make 
them vegetate, but Michaux gives the following method : 
Gather the seeds in the fall, clear them of their pulpy 
covering by rubbing them in water, cover them with 
earth in a box, and place them in the cellar till spring, 
care being taken to keep the earth moist. 

JAMAICA DOGWOOD. 

This tree belongs to a large and important order of 
the pulse family, familiar representatives of which are 
found in the locust, tamarind, and the like. The major- 
ity of the plants that belong to this widely diffused or- 
der are indigenous to foreign lands. When full grown 
this tree attains a height of twenty to twenty-five feet, 
has a bright - colored, smooth bark, and very irregular, 
spreading branches. The wood is very heavy and resin- 
ous, of a light -brown color, coarse and cross-grained, 
and lasts almost equally in or out of water. It makes 
excellent piles for wharves, and is reckoned the most 
lasting timber in America, every way as good as the 
English oak, and having such a leaf. The blossoms are 
very white and sweet, small, and in bunches, as full as 



YELLOW WOOD. 125 

the tree can hold. After the bloom come bunches of a 
membranous substance, looking like hops at a distance, 
in which are contained the seed. Calyx of a brownish 
red, covered with greenish hairs. The leaves are twice 
pinnatifid, somewhat coriaceous, covered with a fine 
down when young, afterwards becoming almost glob- 
ous, and deciduous. Leaflets about two inches long, 
twelve to sixteen lines broad, and pointed. The leaves 
are shed early in the year, and previous to the develop- 
ment of the new foliage the flowers make their appear- 
ance. This tree is easily propagated by seeds or cut- 
tings, and stakes cut from it soon take root and form an 
excellent live fence. The bark of the trunk is very as- 
tringent ; a decoction of it stops the immediate discharge 
of ulcers, especially when it is combined with mangrove 
bark. It cures the mange in dogs, and would probably 
answer well for tanning leather. The bark of the root, 
pounded, is used in catching fish ; if mixed with the wa- 
ter in some convenient part of a river or creek, whence 
its influence may spread, in a short time the fish that lie 
under the rocks or banks rise to the surface, where they 
float as if dead. Fish caught in this manner are eaten 
without hesitation, and are not considered unwholesome. 

The bark of the root, to be effectual, should be gath- 
ered during the period of inflorescence. When chewed 
it has an unpleasant taste. It yields its virtues to alco- 
hol, but not to water. A saturated tincture prepared 
from the bark is used as an anodyne in toothache, and 
found very efficacious, not only affording relief when 
taken internally, but uniformly curing the pain when 
introduced upon a dossil of cotton into the tooth. 

The preparation of the bark for the sport of fish- 
catching is as follows : Being detached from the roots, 
it is mashed up with what is termed in the West Indies 
temper lime and the low wines or lees of the still-house, 
and the mixture distributed into small baskets, from 
which it is gradually washed out by persons holding the 



126 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

baskets in the water, no doubt with the certainty of 
stupefying or narcotizing a large number of fishes. Most 
of the larger fishes recover after a time from the influ- 
ences of the drug, but a great sacrifice of the smaller 
ones is occasioned by the process. It has been observed 
that the eel is the only fish that could not be intoxicated 
with a common dose. 

Experiments have demonstrated the power of this 
drug, in large doses, to produce prompt paralysis of the 
motor nerves, while it does not affect the seat of intel- 
ligence nor the great centres of innervation. 

THE DATE-PLUM PERSIMMON. PERSIMMON. 

The persimmon -tree usually reaches the height of 
from fifty to sixty feet, and from twenty to twenty-four 
inches in diameter. The leaves are about five inches 
long and pointed, of a beautiful dark bottle-green, with 
a glossy face and glaucous underneath ; the bark is very 
rous'h, the limbs and branches crooked and twisted. 
This tree usually has a conical and rather open top ; its 
fruit varies in shape and in time of ripening, and is best 
if ripened before frost, and not, as most people suppose, 
after frost. Frost removes the astringency of the per- 
simmon, but at the same time spoils it if it has not 
reached a certain stage of maturity. The wood of the 
persimmon is hard, heavy, and of a very fine grain, and 
is much used in place of ash as axle-trees for carriages 
and wagons, but its principal use is for carving. Keep 
the seed moist, and plant in the seed-bed until one year 
old, then transplant. 

THE MULBERRY. RED MULBERRY. 

This tree is found east of the Mississippi Eiver, and 
reaches a height of from seventy to eighty feet. While 
in its young state it makes very rapid progress, but after 
it has reached a few inches in diameter it seems to fall 
back, and becomes of mucli slower growth. Its timber 



YELLOW WOOD. 127 

is very strong, tough, compact, and durable. Its chief 
use is for posts, fences, and rural buildings. Its fruit, 
too, is esteemed a delicacy by many. It is a handsome, 
ornamental tree, and is usually covered by myriads of 
birds that come to feast on the berries. To obtain the 
seed the berries should be taken when fully ripe and 
washed, the seed that falls to the bottom only being 
used ; these should be laid by until spring, and then 
lightly covered with mould. The first year the young 
trees will grow to the height of from twelve to fifteen 
inches. Its fruit is very much increased in size by culti- 
vation, but the birds generally save all trouble as to pick- 
ing by being beforehand, and obtaining the best that is 
to be had. 

THE BLACK MULBEEEY. 

This tree, though a native of Europe, is found in a 
wild state in this country. It is not nearly as large as 
the red mulberry, and is of much slower growth. Its 
wood is not of any value, but its fruit is from two to 
three times as large as the red mulberry. This tree 
grows to the height of from twenty to thirty feet. Its 
leaves are broad, rough, and heart-shaped at the base. 
On account of its comparative slowness in putting forth 
its leaves the mulberry was dedicated by the Greeks to 
Minerva, the goddess of war. When perfectly dry the 
wood of the black mulberry weighs only about forty 
pounds to the cubic foot. As it increases in age it in- 
creases in fruit, so that an old tree will produce not only 
more but better fruit than a young one. 

THE WHITE MULBEEEY. 

The leaves of this tree are its main distinguishing 
mark, being about eight inches long and about six inches 
broad, and heart-shaped. The tree grows to a height of 
from thirty to forty feet. It is only found in a real- 
ly wild state in China, but exists in a semi-wild state 
widely scattered over Europe and Asia, and is found 



128 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

sparingly all over the United States. It was first intro- 
duced into this country for the purpose of feeding the 
silk - worm, but it has never proved of practical value. 
At the time of the silk -worm craze in 1830 the white 
mulberry took a big boom, but has since gradually sunk 
down into utter insignificance. It may, however, at 
some future period, arise to eminence as food for the 
silk-worm. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE BOW-WOOD, OK OSAGE ORANGE. 

Range of Growth, and Soil Favorable to its Growth.— Its Attainable 
Height. — The Incorruptible Property of its Wood. — Color of its 
Wood, Uses for which Fit, and Advantages.— Its Productiveness 
and Famed Elasticity. — Its Foliage and Fruit Described.— States 
best Suited to its Thrift. — Difference of Bearing of the Male and 
the Female Tree.— A Fruitful Yield. 

This tree is found chiefly in the rich bottom-lands of 
Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, where it reaches the 
height of from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. The wood, 
which takes a beautiful polish, and is easily mistaken for 
satin-wood, is hard, tough, and very elastic, and, strange 
to say, is incorruptible, a rotten stick of Osage orange 
being never seen ; though it will waste away, it will 
never rot. In color it is of a bright yellow, and is fit 
for any purpose where lumber is exposed to changes of 
weather, as it does not shrink nor swell on exposure to 
water or heat. 

In a few years a plantation of Osage orange -trees 
would reproduce itself. It is so pregnant with suckers 
that, like the chestnut, the more it is cut down the more 
shoots it will throw out, and thus the Osage plantation 
will grow thicker and thicker. The Osage Indians have 
rendered the wood of the Osage orange famous from 
their skilful use of it in the manufacture of their bows. 

It is a beautiful deciduous tree, and has a smooth, gray- 
ish-yellow bark, and while young has a beautiful round- 
ish appearance ; but, like youth and beauty, when old age 
appears it becomes wrinkled in its bark and scraggy in 
its branches. Its foliage is of a beautiful dark green, 



130 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 

smooth and polished on the top and slightly seamed 
underneath ; the leaves are about three or four inches 
long and as many broad. The spines that cover the 
branches are straight and strong, and about two inches 
in length. 

The fruit is about the size and appearance of a large 
Seville orange. It consists of numerous small radiating 
fibres that meet and join a small ball-like centre of soft, 
woody fibre. The orange, when wounded, exudes a milk- 
like fluid that on exposure to the air turns to a white, co- 
agulated mass, but turns black when left to dry on the 
hands. It is found scattered all over the country, but is 
at its best in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mex- 
ico. There is a curious instance related by Browne, viz. : 
Two trees were planted by Mr. McMahon, of Philadel- 
phia, close together ; one of them bore fruit in a perfect 
condition, and continued to do so for some years, while 
the other bore only fruit whose seed was abortive. Mr. 
McMahon was puzzled for a time to account for this, but 
after mature study he came to the conclusion that they 
were male and female ; the female bearing the perfect 
fruit, while the male could only produce abortive fruit. 
Two other trees situated about four hundred yards away 
showed the same result. 

At Beaver Dam, in Yirginia, a female tree of this 
species yielded fruit to the number of one hundred 
and fifty, many of which weighed eighteen or nineteen 
ounces each. 

From the wood of the Osage orange is obtained a 
yellow dye ; the inner bark is very fine and white, and 
might be manufactured into fine linen. The chief use 
of the tree is for hedges. It has been tested as a food 
for silk-worms, but with poor success, most of the worms 
dying, and those that lived were weak and puny. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE AILANTUS, OR TREE OF HEAVEN. 

Its Height, Size, and Nativity.— Its Adaptability to Arid Places, with 
Recommendation. — Manner of Growth, Description and Uses of its 
Wood.— Description of its Leaf and Flower.— When First Intro- 
duced into the United States and by Whom.— Successful Propaga- 
tion Instanced. — How Propagated. 

This tree, which grows to the height of sixty or seven- 
ty feet, with a diameter of two feet, is a native of China, 
and has quite recently been transplanted to the arid 
steppes of Siberia with great success, as it has a strong 
tendency to hold the sand together and keep it from 
shifting. In the first period of its existence it is of very 
rapid growth, and does not slacken until about the twelfth 
year, and then it gradually becomes slower and slower 
of growth. The wood is hard, very fine grained, and fit 
for cabinet-work. It has been strongly recommended 
for planting on the arid plains of western Kansas. 

This gigantic tree is justly called by the ancients the 
" Tree of Heaven." The leaves are from one and a half 
to six feet in length, having leaflets with coarse, granular 
teeth near the base. Its flowers are of a whitish green 
and of a very disagreeable odor. 

The ailantus was first introduced into the United 
States by Mr. William Hamilton in 1784, and a sucker, 
planted from the original tree in 1S09, is at present 
standing in the Bartram Botanic Garden. 

In 1820 Mr. William Prince, of Flushing, Long Island, 
imported the ailantus from Europe, and from this stock 
most of the trees around New York have been supplied. 
This tree may be propagated from seeds, suckers, or 
cuttings. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE BUCKEYE. 

Similarity of Species and General Characteristics to Horse-chestnuts. 

— Horse-chestnut Buckeye. — Its Elevation and Nativity. — Its 
Manner of Growth and Soil Suited to its Growth. — Its Foliage 
and Fruit Described. — Its Ornamental Value. — Specified Vari- 
eties. — When Introduced into the United States. — Repulsiveness 
of its Leaves to Insect Ravages. — Description of its Wood.— Use 
to which Put in Europe. — Use as Recommended by Du Hamel. 

— Produce of its Bark. — Bleaching Properties of its Nut. — Its 
Artistic Beauty. — Ohio Buckeye. — Height. — For what Recom- 
mended. — Its Uselessness as a Timber Tree. — The Sweet Buck- 
eye. — Its Attainable Height. — Origin of its Name. — Uses of its 
Wood. — How Propagated. — Popularity of its Nut-husks. — The Red 
Buckeye. — Its Stunted Growth. — Its Floral and Odorous Proper- 
ties. — Where Found. — Effect of its Bark on Fish. — Another Use of 
its Bark. — Its Largest Specimen. — Its Supposed Nativity. — Its In- 
troduction into Britain, and Ornamental Use. — Results of Graf tins:. 
— An Opinion. — The Edible Buckeye Described. 

Sometimes the two families of buckeyes and horse- 
chestnuts are mixed by persons that do not know the 
difference between the families, and are called separate 
trees ; but their general characteristics are so much alike 
that, for one, I cannot see why a difference should exist 
at all, and I class them all under one head — First, the 

HORSE-CHESTNUT BUCKEYE. 

This tree, which rises to the height of eighty feet, was 
first known to Europe at Constantinople about the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century, and is only cultivated 
here as an ornamental tree. It is of very rapid growth 
in soils that suit it. The fruit or nuts, ground and mixed 



THE BUCKEYE. 133 

with meal, are used as a cure for broken-winded horses. 
Its leaves are large, dark green, and very beautiful, and 
make quite a handsome, showy appearance in contrast to 
its beautiful flowers, which, peeping out in clusters from 
among the dark-green, graceful foliage, make it one of 
our most beautiful trees. The fruit ripens about the 
middle of September, and is enclosed in a thick, prickly 
husk. The following is a list of the horse-chestnuts : 

Double-flowered Horse-chestnut ; an uncommon variety. 
Ohio Horse-chestnut, or Foetid Buckeye. 
Smooth-leaved Horse-chestnut. 
Variegated-leaved Horse-chestnut. 
Scarlet-flowered Horse-chestnut. 
Fern-leaved Horse-chestnut. 
Pale-flowered Horse-chestnut. 
Silver-leaved Horse-chestnut. 

The native country of the horse-chestnut is claimed 
by some as northern Asia, and by others as India. It 
was first introduced into this country about the middle 
of the seventeenth century ; the first tree is said to be 
still standing on the estate of Mr. Lemuel Wells, of Yon- 
kers, JSTew York. 

The horse-chestnut requires a deep, free soil, and will 
only flower in a fully sheltered place. 

Its foliage is seldom or never eaten by the larva? of 
insects; its wood is white and very soft, and will only 
weigh about thirty-eight or forty pounds to the cubic 
foot ; in Europe the greater portion of the sabots are made 
from it. Du Hamel and many other eminent authorities 
recommend its use in the manufacture of water-pipes. 

The bark yields a yellow dye, and is very bitter to the 
taste. The nuts are used in Ireland to whiten linen; 
they are first rasped into the water and allowed to mac- 
erate for some time, and when applied to the linen the 
saponaceous matter exudes from the raspings and bleach- 
es it. The potash of the horse-chestnuts is among the 
finest and best in use. 



134 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 

To the painter, the magnificence of its stature and the 
richness of its drapery, especially when clothed in the 
beauty of its broad, pahnated leaves and embroidered 
with its profusion of silvery flowers, more than atone 
for exceeding regularity of form, terminating, as it always 
does if left to nature, in an exact parabola ; its massive 
and luxuriant beauty contrasts well with trees of a more 
airy character, and thus produces that breadth of light 
and shade so essential to landscape scenery. 

OHIO BUCKEYE.* 

This tree reaches the height of forty or fifty feet; it 
is one of the first trees to put forth leaves in the spring. 
It is only recommended for its beauty ; cattle sometimes 
kill themselves from gorging with the nuts. As a tim- 
ber tree it is a delusion and a snare, and not worth culti- 
vating. 

THE SWEET BUCKEYE. 

This tree reaches the height of from ninety to a hun- 
dred feet, and from two to three feet in diameter ; it has 
not the disagreeable odor of the foregoing members of its 
species, hence the name of sweet buckeye. It loses its 
leaves early in September, and cannot be used for orna- 
mental purposes. Its w T ood is used for log-houses, 
wooden bowls, etc. It is propagated from slips, seeds, 
and by grafting. The husks that contain the nuts are 
not covered by thorny spines, but are quite smooth. 

THE BED BUCKEYE. 

This species is little more than a large shrub. It has 
large, bright spikes of red flowers that have a very pleas- 
ant odor. It is found widely scattered through all the 
rich bottom lands east of the Mississippi. The humming- 

* The introduction of this species of chestnut into, and its extensive 
growth and rapid thrift in, Ohio occasioned the peculiar appellation of 
"Buckeye " to that state; which name it still retains, and is familiarly 
applied to the state and its belongings. 



THE BUCKEYE. 135 

birds seem to enjoy these red flowers, as there are always 
scores and scores of them aronnd the tree while in bloom. 
The bruised branches and bark of this tree are used in 
place of the fish-berry in order to stupefy the fish in 
small ponds ; it has such an effect on them that they can 
easily be taken up in the hand. It also takes the place 
of soap in washing woollen cloth. The tree in the 
garden of Mr. Lanclreth, of Philadelphia, is the largest 
of its species known on this continent, being about 
twenty-five feet high, with a trunk three and three quar- 
ter feet in circumference. It is found more especially 
in the small valleys of Virginia, Arkansas, and Louisiana, 
and is said also to be a native of Japan and Brazil. 
Since its introduction from Brazil into Britain, in 1711, 
it has been extensively cultivated all through Europe as 
an ornamental tree. I am of the opinion that better 
results may be had from this tree by grafting, viz. : A 
plant of the dwarf species was engrafted on the com- 
mon horse-chestnut-tree, and produced a beautiful, pen- 
dulous, low tree ; and it is likely a little care and cultiva- 
tion would unite the beauty of this tree with the size of 
some of its larger brethren of less beauty, and so be a 
gain to both. 

THE EDIBLE BUCKEYE. 

This species in its natural state is of low growth, sel- 
dom exceeding four feet, and is of the evergreen variety ; 
but with proper or careful management in its culture it 
attains the height of a moderately tall shrub or small 
tree. 

In its native soil this tree produces abundant flowers, 
which continue to bloom for three months or longer, at 
a time, too (April and May), when very few trees or 
shrubs are in bloom, forming one of the grandest floral 
ornaments of the shrubbery. Its leaflets, from five to 
seven in number, are of an oval-obovate form, and vel- 
vety-canescent beneath, supported on long, slender peti- 
oles, gracefully disposed. Combined with the feathery 



136 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

lightness of the racemes of its flowers, they give the 
plant a showy and elegant appearance. This shrub is in- 
digenous to the southeastern parts of the United States, 
where it is usually found growing on the banks of streams 
or rivulets. It may be propagated either from layers or 
seed. When its nuts are used in the raising they should 
be sown immediately after gathering. A small fruit is 
produced by this plant which may be eaten either boiled 
or roasted, like the chestnut of Europe. 



CHAPTEK XXXI. 

THE TUPELO. 

The Tupelo, Black Gum, or Pepperidge. — Its Variety and Allied Char- 
acteristics. — Their Floral Fragrance. — How Raised, Size, and Range 
of Growth. — Texture of its Wood and for What Esteemed. — Its Two- 
fold Property. — Its Variety of Name. — Description of its Berries 
and their Sustaining Usefulness. — Its Attainable Height and Places 
Favorable to its Growth. — Its Uses in Virginia. — The Wild Lime- 
tree. — Its Resemblance to the Black Gum-tree, and Exception. — 
Description and Uses of its Wood. — Buoyant Property of its Roots. 
— The Esteemed Delicacy of its Fruit. — Its Height and Size. 

TUPELO, BLACK GUM, OK PEPPERIDGE. 

The tupelos are deciduous trees of North America, with, 
characteristics so nearly allied that I have called them 
only two distinct varieties. They produce an agreeable, 
fragrant flower early in the spring, and are well described 
and beautifully expressed by Cowper : 

" Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 
With blushing wreathes, investing every spray." 

This tree is middle-sized, and is found from Massachu- 
setts to Illinois, and from thence south to the Gulf of 
Mexico. It is raised from seed generally, but the first 
year the seed does not vegetate. Its grain is so inter- 
woven that I am afraid even the patience of Job, famed 
in Biblical history, would give way under such a task, 
and he would fall from grace, or, in other words, he 
would swear, had he been compelled to cut some of the 
black gum. It is held in high estimation as wagon-hubs, 
rollers, and cylinders ; it is also fit for turning-work, and, 
to my notion, would make first-class ornamental work, as 
G* 



138 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

the glue-pot would not have to come into requisition so 
often to glue together some of the parts in our furniture. 
It is very hard to transplant unless removed wholly 
or carefully root-pruned in the nursery. This tree has 
quite a variety of names ; some of them are as follows : 
Gum-tree, yellow gum-tree, sour gum-tree, pepperidge- 
tree, wild pear-tree, etc. The berries of this tree are 
small, blue - colored, and afford myriads of robins their 
daily sustenance. It sometimes attains a height of fifty 
or sixty feet, and is found only in moist or damp places. 
It is used in Yirginia to make mauls, and in ship-building. 

THE WILD LIME-TREE. 

This tree closely resembles its brother, the black gum- 
tree, except in its fruit, which is larger, its wood softer, 
and it has a stone that is deeply grooved on both sides ; 
its fruit is intensely acrid. It attains a height of seventy 
or eighty feet, with a diameter of four or live feet at the 
surface of the earth, and at about six or seven feet a 
diameter of thirty to forty inches. When the leaves 
first unfold themselves in the spring they are downy, 
but as they gradually spread out they become smooth 
on both sides. The wood is extremely white and rea- 
sonably soft when unseasoned, but very light and hard 
when dry ; and, as it possesses the same beautiful grain 
as the other members of this species, it is made into 
bowls, platters, trays, etc. The roots when seasoned are 
so light that they take the place of cork, and are much 
used by the fishermen to buoy up their nets. Its fruit 
is esteemed a delicac}^, and is sold under the name of the 
Ogeechee lime, for the purpose of preserving in sugar, 
which, when properly prepared, is said to possess a most 
delicate and delicious flavor. 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

THE JUNEBERRY. 

Its Noticeable Beauty.— Its Attainable Height.— Its Floral and Fruit 
Productiveness. — Its Foliage Described. — The Non-distinctive Dif- 
ference of European and American Varieties. — Its Range of Growth. 
— Soil and Situation Suitable to its Thrift. — Use of its Fruit. — 
The Papaw. — Its Stunted Growth.— Its Floral and Fruit-bearing 
Properties. — Its Limited Latitude of Growth. — Properties of its 
Wood and Fruit. 

This tree is only worthy of notice on account of its 
beauty. It reaches the height of thirty or forty feet ; its 
flowers are white and are produced in long panicles ; its 
leaves are from two to three inches m length, of a beau- 
tiful oval shape, and smooth on both sides. The fruit is 
about one eighth of an ilich in diameter, red in an im- 
mature state, and of a dark purple when fully ripe, and 
is covered with a bloom. Of this fruit the largest tree 
rarely yields more than half a pound. It greatly troubles 
most people to distinguish the European and American 
varieties from each other, as they have so many points 
in common ; so much so, that many people class them to- 
gether and make no distinction whatever. The June- 
berry, with the exception of the maritime parts of the 
United States, is spread all over the northern half of the 
Western Continent, from Georgia to Hudson's Bay. It 
multiplies very rapidly on the fertile banks of streams 
and in swampy ground, although it sometimes occurs in 
dry, rocky places, but then is never of vigorous growth 
and is rather sickly. Its fruit is used for food in North 
America. 

THE PAPAW. 

The papaw is commonly only a large shrub, but by ex- 



140 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

traordinary effort it sometimes reaches the height of twen- 
ty or twenty-five feet, with a di ameter of eight inches. It 
bears a purple flower of great beauty, with an oblong 
fruit with an egg-custard consistency and taste. It is 
most too rich for most people. The trunk of the tree is 
covered with a silver-gray bark, which is finely polished 
and very smooth. It has not been observed north of the 
Schuylkill Kiver, Pennsylvania ; it is a sure indication of 
the richness of the soil. It seldom produces shoots of 
more than five or six inches in length, hence a plant in 
ten years does not reach above three or four feet in height. 
Portions of the wood have a rank and foetid smell. The 
fruit is eaten by few people except negroes; a spiritu- 
ous liquor has been made from it, but it is of little worth, 
and has a very deleterious effect upon those who are in 
the habit of using it. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE CATALPA. 

Its Scattered Range, Height, and Growth.— Its Flower and Foliage 
Described. — Occurrence of its Bud and Fall of Leaf.— Its Climate 
and Thrift.— Its Self-propagating Properties.— Durability and other 
Properties of its Wood.— Its Seed Described.— Manner of Culture. 
—A New-England Specimen Described.— The Medicinal Properties 
of its Bark.— The Poisonous and Medicinal Property of its Flower. 
— Its Annual Beautifying Productiveness. 

This tree, which grows to the height of seventy or 
eighty feet, and has a diameter of from two to three feet, 
is found scattered from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
It has a very beautiful flower, and large heavy foliage 
which renders the tree liable to be broken by heavy 
winds. The leaves are late in appearing in spring, and 
fall as soon as the first frost comes. The catalpa flour- 
ishes where the winters are not too severe, the young 
trees springing up and thriving from the seed dropped by 
the old trees. The wood is very much like the butternut, 
but withstands the weather better, and takes a very high 
polish ; in some sections the catalpa is worked up into 
posts, and has been found very lasting and not very sen- 
sitive to change of weather. The seeds are contained in 
a long, slender, round pod ; they are folded in a thin, 
membranous wing, and are flat and very narrow. If 
planted in the spring and covered lightly they vegetate 
very easily, and the young shoots transplant readily. 
Its bark is of a silvery -gray color, and but lightly fur- 
rowed ; the leaves are heart-shaped ; the flowers white, 
and marked with yellow and purple spots. In favorable 



142 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

seasons they are succeeded by capsules, or seed -pods, 
which closely resemble those of the common cabbage, 
but on a larger scale. 

The first tree of this species planted in New England 
stands in front of the late residence of Mayor Babcock, 
in Washington Street, Hartford, in the State of Con- 
necticut. It is of large size, and when in bloom is one 
mass of sweet-scented, beautiful flowers. It is over 
eighty years of age. 

The wood of the catalpa resembles that of the syca- 
more, but is susceptible of a much higher polish and has 
not the reddish tinge, being a grayish white. If the bark 
be bruised in the spring a very venomous odor is exhaled. 
In a thesis at the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- 
delphia, the bark of this tree was maintained to be a 
tonic, and more powerfully antiseptic than that of the 
Cinchona officinalis. It is a very good and sure antidote 
for the bites of snakes. The honey collected from the 
flowers is very poisonous, and produces effects closely 
allied to the effects of the honey collected from the yel- 
low jasmine. The flowers are also valuable as a rem- 
edy for asthma. 

It is usually grown from seed, but will readily grow 
from cuttings. The tree is of very rapid growth until 
it has reached the height of twenty feet, which it attains 
usually in about ten years. In free, rich soils the trees 
continue flowering every year, making a splendid ap- 
pearance, not only from the large size and lively color of 
the blossoms, but from the fine pale green of their leaves. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE HACKBERRY. 

Its Attainable Height and Size. — Its Appearance and Characteristics. 
— Description and Uses of its Wood. — Its Odorous Production. — 
Its Range of Growth. — The Largest of its Species, Where Grow- 
ing. — How Propagated.— Its Enemies. — The Red-bud. — Its Stunted 
v Growth. — Its Floral and Seed Productiveness. — How Propagated. 
— Similarities of its Species, and Distinguishing Features. — Use of 
its Bark. — Culinary Usefulness of its Flower, Bud, and Pod. 

THE HACKBERRV. 

This tree, which rises to the height of from eighty to 
ninety feet, with a diameter of eighteen to twenty-four 
inches, and a trunk straight and undivided for a great 
height, is supported on all sides by great roots that 
project two feet or more from the ground. The wood 
splits very easily, and is of a clear white color ; it can- 
not stand much exposure to the weather. It has been 
used for inside work, but has been found to warp and 
become so crooked that its use for that purpose has been 
discontinued. This is a fine tree, but cannot be safely 
recommended for cultivation for the sake of its timber, 
as it is only fit for making flat barrel-hoops. The bark 
of this tree is of a grayish color, and covered with as- 
perities which are scattered unevenly over the surface. 
The flowers, which appear in May, are a small white 
variety, with a very fine odor. The banks of the Dela- 
ware, just above the city of Trenton, New Jersey, may 
be considered as the northern limit of this tree : it is 
found in narrow stretches east of the Alleghanies, but 
west of them it exists profusely all over the broad val- 
leys and rich bottom-lands. The largest tree of this 



144 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

species in the United States stood at Springfield, Mas- 
sachusetts, and measured fourteen feet around the base. 
It is propagated best in layers, but great care should be 
taken to keep the hackberry moth from eating the leaves 
and the tender young plants. The moth is a brilliant 
insect, three and a half inches long, half an inch thick, 
of a beautiful apple-green color, marked in an artistic 
manner with white, and shaded with pink. 

THE RED-BUD. 

This is either a small tree or a large shrub, but usually 
the latter ; it reaches the height of from twelve to thirty 
feet. Its flowers are small and of a fine pink color; 
they cover the tree all over, and present quite a beau- 
tiful appearance. The flowers are succeeded by a red 
berry, which contains the seed. The plant is easily 
propagated by simply sowing the seed in ground scraped 
over with a rake or a hoe. There is a great similarity 
between the red-bud of Europe and the red-bud of this 
country, but they are easily distinguished by the heart- 
shaped leaves of the American variety, and the less 
number of leaves and flowers. The bark of the young 
trees is used to dye wool of a nankin color. The French 
Canadians use the flowers in salads and pickles, and, 
from their agreeable acid taste, both the flowers and the 
buds may be fried in butter and eaten the same as the 
siliquastrum. The flower-buds and pods may be pickled 
in vinegar. 



CHAPTEE XXXV. 

THE FRINGE-TREE. 

Its Limited Height. — Its Native Range and Ornamental Value. — Its 
Floral Productiveness. — Its Variety of Name. — Its Classified Be- 
longings.— Its Medicinal and other Properties — Its Possible Perfect- 
nessby Grafting. — The Iron-Wood. — Where Belonging. — Height of 
Tree, Uses and Durability of its Wood. — Manner of Growth. — Its 
Disadvantages as a Timber Tree. 

THE FRINGE-TREE. 

This tree only reaches from twenty to thirty feet in 
height, but bears flowers when only four or five feet 
high. It is native from Pennsylvania to the Gulf of 
Mexico, but is quite hardy farther north. As an orna- 
mental tree it is a perfect success, but it does not remain 
in bloom for any period of time. It blossoms in June, 
and has beautiful purple, berry-like flowers that grow in 
clusters ; its petals very much resemble fringe cut from 
white paper. It is known by various names ; among 
which are snowflower-tree, snowdrop-tree, broad-leaved 
Virginian snowflower-tree, narrow - leaved Virginian 
snowflower-tree, and seaside-inhabiting Virginian snow- 
flower-tree. This latter is a native of North America, 
and grows in boggy woods by the seaside. 

The order to which this tree belongs embraces some 
trees and shrubs that are native to both hemispheres, 
and are for the most part deciduous. Some are timber 
trees, some are medicinal, which in general are bitter; 
one genus produces a valuable oil, and from others is pro- 
duced the sweet, purgative manna. As most of the trees 
of this order might be grafted on one another, it is prob- 
7 



146 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

able that their flowers might be reciprocally fecundated, 
in which case some curious hybrids might be produced 
between the privet and the lilac, the privet and the olive, 
the lilac and the ash, etc. 

THE IRON-WOOD. 

This tree belongs to the northern portion of the United 
States and Canada. It grows to the height of from 
thirty to forty feet. The wood is very heavy, compact, 
and durable ; also exceedingly fine grained. It is used 
for beetles, mallets, wedges, cogs of mill-wheels, etc. It 
is of very slow growth, and on this account it is ineligi- 
ble for timber, though it is a great success as an orna- 
ment, having light, slender, graceful branches, and a 
beautiful green foliage. Canes, umbrella-handles, and 
fancy carved- work are sometimes made from the wood 
of this tree. It is by no means common, and hence is 
not so well known as a great many of its more fortunate 
but not so worthy brethren ; the only drawback to its 
culture as a timber-tree is its slowness of growth and 
small height. 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 

THE BUTTONWOOD, ASPEN, AND POPLAR. 

The Button wood or Plane-tree.— Its Extensive Range and Abundant 
Growth.— Its General Appearance and Elevation.— Its Peculiar Dis- 
advantages.— Description of its Seed and Manner of Sowing.— The 
Aspen.— Its Numerous Species and Resemblances.— Value of its 
Wood.— Disagreeable Character of its Seed.— The American Aspen. 
—Where Found and Limited Height.— Description and Uses of its 
Wood.— Its Common Characteristics.— Large Aspen. — Its Advan- 
tages.— Uses and Properties of its Wood.— Downy-leaved Poplar. 
—Its Southern Nativity.— Attainable Height and Size.— Peculiari- 
ties of its Foliage.— Its Uselessness as Lumber.— The Balsam Pop- 
lar.— Where Found and its Uselessness.— The White Poplar.— Its 
Ornamental Value.— Its other Advantages.— Its Superior Qualities 
and Chief Uses.— How Propagated and Attainable Height. 

THE EUTTONWOOD, OK PLANE-TREE. 

This tree is common throughout the Northern, Middle, 
and Western States. It rises to a height of from one to 
three hundred feet, with a diameter of from two to eight 
feet. It is not valuable either as a timber tree or as an 
ornamental tree, on account of its being liable to warp 
and crack, and the rapidity with which it decays on ex- 
posure to the weather. As an ornamental tree it is often 
attacked by a peculiar blight which greatly disfigures it ; 
i. e., the bark peels off in spots, leaving the tree with the 
appearance of a man with the small-pox, or a tree that 
has been partially burned with powder and the discol- 
ored bark has started to peel off. The seeds occur in 
balls, are covered with plumy tufts, and are about an 
inch in diameter. They may be sown when ripe, or kept 
until spring, soaked in water and then sown, or by cut- 
tings of the last year's wood. 



148 TREES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 



THE ASPEN. 

There are many species of the aspen, most of which 
attain considerable size. Their foliage and wood great- 
ly resemble each other, and most of them are of very 
rapid growth, but are equalled if not excelled by far 
more valuable timber trees, and hence in this country 
are not valued so much for timber, because for the same 
labor we obtain a much better article. The seeds are 
covered with a cotton-like down, which becomes a great 
nuisance by being continually blown over everything, 
so that for shade, when planted near a house, the male 
tree should always be preferred. 

AMERICAN ASPEN. 

This tree, which seldom exceeds the height of thirty 
or forty feet, is found in the British Provinces, and in 
the northern part of the United States. It has a soft, 
white wood with the grain very much interwoven, and 
is sometimes used in the manufacture of base-ball bats, 
as it will dent nearly through before breaking. It is a 
very short-lived tree. It has the common characteristics 
of the rest of its family, and should be propagated the 
same way. 

LARGE ASPEN. 

This tree grows and is found in the same locality as 
the American aspen, but is much longer lived and a more 
valuable tree. It is sometimes sawed into square timber 
and used where it can be kept dry ; it has a great deal 
of spring and does not easily settle. This tree is cut into 
rails and the bark peeled off, otherwise it would rot and 
require renewal every three or four years ; if peeled they 
last from fifteen to twenty years. 

DOWNY-LEAVED POPLAR. 

This species is rather rare in the North, but is found 
from Tennessee southward. It grows to the height of 



THE POPLAR. 149 

from eighty to ninety feet, with a diameter of three feet. 
It has a downlike covering to its leaves ■ in their first 
growth. It has no value as a lumber tree, as it will 
not stand the changes of weather, and is not used even 
where it is the most plentiful. 

THE BALSAM POPLAR. 

The balsam poplar is rare in the United States, but is 
common in British America. It is a large tree, but use- 
less either for timber or fuel. 

THE WHITE POPLAR. 

This tree is one of the most common throughout our 
country, and has been planted as an ornamental tree 
from time to time, but in a little while, instead of being 
a thing of beauty and a joy forever, it becomes a nui- 
sance, from the number of suckers it throws out. It is 
best for large cities, as it stands the smoke and dust 
better than most trees. It is the chief of its family, both 
for fineness, whiteness, and strength ; it is not liable to 
either split or warp, and affords a good firm hold to 
nails ; it is chiefly used for bowls, trays, etc. It reaches 
the height of from ninety to one hundred feet, with a 
diameter of six feet. It is propagated by suckers, slips, 
branches, etc. Its disposition to sucker would be no 
drawback in forest culture. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CHERRY-TREES. 

Wild Black Cherry.— Its Native Range.— Preferred Use of its Wood. 
— Its Ornamental Character. — Its Productiveness. — Manner of 
Preserving and Sowing its Seed. — The Wild Red Cherry. — Its 
Attainable Height and Size. — Its Qualities Contrasted with the 
Black Cherry. — Description and Qualities of its Wood.— Its Spon- 
taneous Growth. — Its Special Property. — The Wild Cherry.— Its 
Medicinal Properties. 

WILD BLACK CHEERY. 

This tree is found all over the United States east of 
the Eocky Mountains. I have not seen much of it in 
the neighborhood of Iowa and Illinois, although the soil 
is eminently well fitted for it, but this is partly explained 
by the great prairie fires that have ravaged these dis- 
tricts and have destroyed the cherry-trees, while trees 
of the oak and hickory genus were not damaged, being 
much tougher and hardier. It was formerly much used 
in cabinet-work, and is preferred for many things to the 
black walnut. I have heard of some of the old houses of 
Virginia in which all the inside wood-work was made of 
cherry, and was fairly dark with age. A great many of 
the old fowling-pieces and pistols have highly polished 
cherry stocks that are not only things of beauty, but 
also good, serviceable weapons. The wood is not liable 
to warp, is of a light-red color, and darkens with age. 
It is a fine ornamental tree, but cannot be kept clear of 
caterpillars in open ground, becoming even more infest- 
ed with these pests than apple-trees are. It is never at- 
tacked by the caterpillar when growing in a grove or 
in forests. The timber is not of value until it has at- 



CHERRY-TREES. 151 

tained considerable size. The fruit ripens in August ; the 
seed should be thickly sown and the trees then thinned 
out, as they make excellent firewood. The seed should 
not be allowed to become dry, but be mixed with damp 
sand, and sown either in the fall or in the spring. 

WILD RED CHERRY. 

This tree grows to the height of from thirty to forty 
feet, with a diameter of from eight to twelve inches. It 
has all the good points of the black cherry, but is much 
inferior in size. The wood is of a light-red color and not 
inferior to that of the preceding species for cabinet-work. 
The wild red cherry springs up spontaneously wherever 
the country has been ravaged by fire. It is the only 
native species of cherry on which the cultivated cherries 
will grow and succeed if grafted on. 

Wild-cherry bark is said to have a tonic and stimulat- 
ing influence on the digestive apparatus, and a simul- 
taneous sedative action on the nervous system and circu- 
lation. The fluid extract is used in all cases where it is 
desirable to give tone and strength to the system with- 
out causing too great an action of the heart and strain 
on the blood-vessels. It has also been found useful in 
hectic fever, some forms of dyspepsia, and irritability of 
the nervous system. 



CHAPTEK XXXVIII. 

THE WILLOWS. 

The White Willow. — Its Ornamental Value and Elevated Growth. — 
Manner of Growth and Usefulness. — Its Supposed Worthlessness 
the Result of Fraud. — Description of its Wood. — The Brittle Wil- 
low. — Its Height, Growth, Rarity, and Uses. — Weeping Willow. — 
Its Ornamental Advantages. — Places Favorable to its Growth. — 
Largest Specimens, Where Produced. — Grafting of the Kilmarnock 
and American Willow.— Shining Willow — Its Exceeding Orna- 
ment. — Its Growth on Careful Culture. — Its Favorite Places of 
Growth.— How Recognized. — Peculiar Feature of its Leaves. 

THE WHITE WILLOW". 

This is a very ornamental tree, and rises to the height 
of eighty or ninety feet, with a diameter of from four to 
six feet. It is rapid of growth, and makes a good wind- 
break. Some sharpers, quite recently, praised the white 
willow up to be such an excellent hedge-plant, and cir- 
culated such extravagant stories of its beauties in that 
respect, that enormous quantities of shoots and cuttings 
were sold, and this fraud was carried to such an extent 
as to injure the reputation of the tree as a wind-break 
and for fuel. I, for one, however, can testify that in 
a short time, if grown thickly together, it forms an al- 
most impenetrable wind-break. The trees are not worth 
much for lumber on account of not being able to with- 
stand the changes of weather. The wood is white, soft, 
and light. It produces long, straight, lithe poles, which 
are sometimes used for fence-rails. Its most extensive 
use is in the production of charcoal for gunpowder ; it is 
also used for tanning purposes. 



THE WILLOWS. 153 



THE BRITTLE WILLOW. 

This species grows to the height of ninety feet, and 
is rather rare in some sections of the country. It is used 
in the manufacture of baskets. A brother species, the 
Bedford willow, is the most valuable willow of the Brit- 
ish Isles. 

WEEPING WILLOW. 

This well-known tree is cultivated only for ornament, 
and is found principally on the shores of lakes, ponds, 
and streams. Long Island produces the largest trees of 
this family. The American and Kilmarnock willows are 
grafted on other species, several feet from the ground, 
as they do not rise to any height if grown from cut- 
tings. 

SHINING WILLOW. 

This is the most ornamental tree of all the willows. 
If carefully cultivated, it may reach the height of fifteen 
or twenty feet, but in its wild or native state it is much 
smaller. It is most frequently found among the moun- 
tains and along the streams of New England, and is 
recognized by its leaves, which have the appearance of 
being varnished. It is never found west of New York. 



CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

THE SPRUCES. 

White Spruce. — Its Attainable Height and Size. — Its Northern Nativ- 
ity. — Principal Uses of its Wood. — The Oil Extracted from its 
Branches. — The Black Spruce. — Atmosphere Favorable to its De- 
velopment. — Its Wild Luxuriance. — Description of its Cones. — Man- 
ner of Securing its Seed. — The Red and Blue Spruces. — Their Re- 
semblance to the White Spruce. — The Norway Spruce. — Its Height. 
— Peculiarities of its Growth. — Its Age of Maturity and Where Indig- 
enous. — Its Resinous Extract. — Uses of its Bark. — Importation of 
Young Trees to England and Uses to Which Put. — Durability of its 
Wood. — Effect of Soil on the Qualities of its Wood. — Its General 
Appearance and Persistent Growth. — Its Usefulness as Shelter. — 
Its Properties Preferable to those of the Black Spruce. — Manner of 
Saving and Sowing its Seed. — Hemlock Spruce. — Where Indige- 
nous. — Elevation Favorable to its Thrift. — Texture and Character- 
istics of its Wood. — Peculiarities of Grain. — Its Beautifying Charac- 
ter. — Its Value Compared with other Timber Trees.— Balsam Fir. — 
Its Nativity. — Its Height and Size. — Medicinal Properties and Or- 
namental Advantages. — Fraser's Fir. — Where Found and General 
Characteristics. 

WHITE SPRUCE. 

This tree sometimes attains the height of sixty feet, 
with a diameter of from fifteen to twenty inches. It is 
found from the northern portion of the United States to 
the Arctic Ocean, but is not quite so common as the 
black spruce in the United States and Canada. Its 
principal use is for the masts and spars of vessels, and 
also as a substitute for white pine in floors, rafters, and 
beams of buildings, as it is much tougher and does not 
warp or crack. Spruce-beer is manufactured from a con- 
centrated oil or essence that is extracted from the small 
branches. 



THE SPRUCES. 155 



BLACK SPRUCE. 

The black spruce must have a cool, moist atmosphere in 
order to arrive at its full development, and thrives more 
luxuriantly in wilds congenial to its growth than under 
the most skilful culture. The cones are smaller and 
shorter than those of the white spruce, and are produced 
in great abundance ; they are ripe at the end of autumn, 
and should be immediately gathered and stored away, as 
the cones open and the seeds escape. 

RED AND BLUE SPRUCES. 

The red and blue spruces are closely analogous to the 
white spruce, and differ only in the production of the 
cones — the blue spruce producing cones when only three 
or four feet high. 

NORWAY SPRUCE. 

The [Norway spruce reaches to the height of from one 
hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty feet. It 
is a beautiful, straight tree, with a diameter of from two 
to five feet. Michaux claims that it is one hundred years 
attaining its full growth. It is indigenous to the north- 
ern parts of Europe and Asia, but south is found only 
among the mountains. It is found farther north in Eu- 
rope and Asia than any other timber tree excepting the 
birch. The resin is the Burgundy pitch of commerce. 
The bark is used for tannery purposes, and trees are im- 
ported into England while only eight or ten inches in 
diameter, where the lumber is used for fencing, roofs of 
buildings, and many other purposes. Its wood is very 
durable, more so than any of the spruce family excepting 
the larch. The wood of the Norway spruce varies ac- 
cording to the land upon which it is grown ; it is usu- 
ally very light and elastic. The timber that possesses 
these qualities in the smallest degree is usually raised on 
light, poor, sandy soil. To most artistic eyes the Nor- 
way spruce is not a thing of beauty, on account of its 



156 TKEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

stiff, formal appearance, but, clothed in verdure and stand- 
ing in the middle of a lawn, it has a very pleasing effect. 
It is a splendid tree for shelter-belts, and has been rec- 
ommended again and again for this purpose. It is per- 
fectly hardy, is rapid and vigorous of growth, and trans- 
plants very readily. It is of perfectly persistent growth, 
and will push its branches over any obstacle until it has 
attained its full development. The Norway spruce is 
much preferred to the black spruce, but for what rea- 
son I do not know, as they both have the same qualities, 
unless it be that the Norway varieties are of much faster 
growth. The seeds ripen about the first of November, 
and the cones, in order to obtain the seed, must be dried in 
the sun or kiln-baked, and then the seed will very readily 
drop out. In planting, the seeds should be set about four 
feet apart, and the young trees carefully tended until they 
have reached the height of from three to four feet ; then 
transplant, and place in their proper positions ; or the 
alternate rows may be thinned out, and willows planted 
in their places. 

HEMLOCK SPRUCE. 

This tree is found as far north as Hudson's Bay, and 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It thrives best in cold 
places, and is found near the top and on the slopes of 
some of our highest mountain-ranges. It is of a coarse 
texture and not very durable, but is much more service- 
able than the white pine, as it is stronger and gives a 
better hold to nails, screws, etc. As its cost of manu- 
facture and transportation is as great as that of white 
pine, and its market value less, it is not likely to be much 
used while pine is abundant. 

There is one peculiarity about the grain of the hem- 
lock, and that is, in ascending three or four feet it makes 
a complete turn round the tree, just the same as the 
rifling of a gun-barrel. 

It is one of the most beautiful of the evergreen trees, 
and is cultivated on that account. It is much used for 



THE FIE. 157 

the studding of houses, in-door Avork, or work of any 
description that is kept from exposure to the weather. 
The only way to transplant it successfully is to keep 
it two or three years in the nursery and tend it care- 
fully. I do not recommend the hemlock for cultiva- 
tion, as there are so many more valuable and better 
timber trees ; for instance, the white, Scotch, and red 
pines. 

BALSAM FIE. 

This is a native of the coldest portions of the continent. 
It rises to a height of forty feet, with a diameter of from 
fifteen to eighteen inches ; it tapers very rapidly from 
the base up ; the wood is white, soft, and of no strength ; 
the resin is deposited in clumps and blisters on the trunk 
and branches, and is used for medicinal purposes. It is 
passable as an ornamental tree, but soon becomes old 
and decrepit and loses its branches and leaves. 

feasee's fie. 

This is a variety that is found from the New England 
States southward. It has the general characteristics of 
the rest of its species, but is not so hardy. It has smaller 
leaves, and more numerous and smaller cones. 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE DECIDUOUS CYPRESS. 

Its Ornamental Character, Southern Home, and Dispersed Growth. — 
Soil Suited to its Growth, and Attainable Height. — Peculiarities of 
its Growth. — Its Associate Tree. — Description and Properties of its 
Wood. — Its Usefulness and Indifference to Climatic Influences. — 
White and Black Cypresses. — Value of the Cypress. — Its Seed. — 
Manner of Sowing and Cultivating. 

This ornamental tree properly belongs to the Southern 
States, but is found scattered all over the eastern and 
extreme western sections of our country, also in the 
more fertile parts of the Mississippi valley. It grows in 
swamps or wet, moist soil, and reaches to the height of 
one hundred and thirty feet, and is destitute of branches 
for a great portion of its height, with a slightly flattened 
top. In the bayous of Mississippi and Louisiana we find 
the cypress and the tupelo growing in about four feet 
of water, with trunks so thickly interlaced that it is im- 
possible to swing an axe with any kind of effect among 
them ; the w T ater from these bayous is the color of brandy, 
from the roots of the cypress. The wood is lighter and 
less resinous than that of the pines, is much finer grained 
and more elastic, and when first cut it is white, but on ex- 
posure to the air turns of a light, reddish color ; it also 
stands the changes of climate very well, and wet or dry 
w T eather does not seem to affect it in the slightest degree. 
It is used for posts, shingles, hogsheads, casks, etc. ; many 
of these articles lasting a lifetime. The cypresses that 
grow surrounded by water are called white cypresses, and 
those that grow in dryer land are called black cypresses. 

The cypress, if carefully cultivated, would be of inesti- 



THE DECIDUOUS CYPRESS. 159 

mable value. It will grow as far north, as St. Louis. As 
an ornamental tree, it is much, esteemed on account of its 
light, graceful foliage. It is very easy to raise either 
from the seed or from slips. If raised from seed the 
young plants should be kept covered and shielded from 
the sun. Transplant the cypress while small, as the tap- 
root strikes very deep wherever the soil will permit it. 
To obtain the seed, store the cones in a dry place and 
raise the seed that falls from the cone only ; those that 
remain in the cone rarely, if ever, germinate. 



CHAPTEE XLI. 

THE AMERICAN ARBOR-VIT^E. 

Its Northern Home. — Its Favorite Soil. — Its Attainable Height and 
Size. — Uses and Properties of its Wood. — Its Ornamental Advan- 
tages. — Manner of Planting Explained. — Its Varieties. — Important 
Varieties. — Its Medicinal Properties. 

This tree is quite common in the northern section of 
the United States and the Dominion of Canada, but is 
only found in the more southern portions of the coun- 
try as a green-house tree, and then only in a very puny, 
sickly state. It grows best in swamps, on the rocky banks 
of streams, borders of rivers, ponds, etc. It usually reach- 
es to the height of from fifty to sixty feet, with a diam- 
eter of from eighteen to twenty inches. In the neigh- 
borhood of the Great Lakes it is called the white cedar, 
but the name arbor- vitas being more appropriate, I pre- 
fer to use it. The wood of this tree is light, soft, and 
very elastic, and withstands the changes of weather for 
a great number of years ; it is frequently used for posts, 
rails, telegraph-poles, etc., many of which have been 
known to last for from sixty to seventy years. It is a 
very ornamental hedge-tree, and bears training and prun- 
ing to any extent, so much so that trees that have been 
trained and pruned with compact foliage keep a much 
more ornamental appearance than those of more open 
foliage. For hedge-planting, plant the trees eighteen or 
twenty inches apart in single rows; for a wind-break 
plant from thirty to forty inches apart in a double row, 
and plant in such a way that the trees of the back row 
fill the spaces between the trees of the front row. Al- 



THE AMERICAN ARBOR-VIT^E. 161 

though eminently a swamp tree, it grows well on most 
any free, cool, fertile soil, except stiff clays. When 
planted for timber it should be planted close together. 
It thrives from layers or cuttings. It produces a va- 
riety of trees by cultivation from seed, some of which are 
very beautiful, among which are some with silver-tipped 
leaves, others of a golden hue, and some dwarfed varie- 
ties, so that there is a wide field for experiment among 
cultivators. The following are some of the most im- 
portant varieties : Siberian arbor- vitaB, a tree of very 
slow growth ; gigantic arbor- vitae, an immense tree found 
in Oregon ; Nee's arbor-vitae, a very hardy variety found 
on the Pacific coast ; Chinese arbor-vitae, of value only 
as an ornamental tree, and Japanese arbor-vitae, a very 
ornamental tree, much more so than the American va- 
riety, as it has beautiful, light, graceful branches and 
foliage. Regarding the medicinal properties of this tree 
— Thuja occidentalis — a fluid extract of its leaves, pre- 
pared by Parke Davis & Co., has given excellent results 
in the treatment of malarial diseases, and the saturated 
tincture may be given for pulmonary hemorrhage, and 
also applied to cancerous ulcerations, warts, etc. A salve 
made with the leaves used to be a remedy employed by 
the Indians for the relief of rheumatism, and a poultice 
of the leaves made with milk has been highly spoken of 
for the same purpose. By distillation the leaves yield 
a yellowish-green volatile oil, which has been used as a 
vermicide, and the distilled water has been praised as a 
remedy for dropsy. 

Thus far Thuja appears to have been employed em- 
pirically only, but it would seem, on reviewing the affec- 
tions in which it has been of service, that its action may 
become very useful to the practitioner in the treatment 
of malignant diseases, especially in diminishing tenden- 
cies to bleeding, relieving the violence of pain, and caus- 
ing contraction of unstripped muscular fibres. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE YEW. 

The English Yew. — Its Foreign Origin. — Its Famed Longevity. — 
Its Symbolic Uses. — The Immensity of its Foliage. — Properties 
and Uses of its Wood. — Its Latitude of Thrift. — American Yew, or 
Ground Hemlock. — Its Stunted Growth, and Semi-evergreen Prop- 
erties. — Effect of Cultivation on its Growth. — Its Artistic Advan- 
tages. 

THE ENGLISH TEW. 

This tree does not properly belong to this country, as 
it is a native of England, Europe, and Asia. It is famous 
on account of its length of life, there being many of the 
yews that are over a thousand years of age. From time 
immemorial it has been planted as a symbol of grief, in 
churchyards, most probably on account of its dark, beau- 
tiful foliage ; some of these trees reach an immense size, 
not so much in girth, but in the spread of their branches 
and the thickness of the foliage. The wood is very 
strong, fine grained, elastic, and unexcelled for durabil- 
ity. The yew succeeds much farther north in Europe 
than it does in this country ; its cultivation being very 
unsatisfactory in this country as far north as Philadel- 
phia. It should be planted in a shaded situation and 
carefully tended, and then perhaps it may amount to 
something, but even this is doubtful. 

THE AMERICAN YEW, OK GROUND HEMLOCK. 

This variety always grows in evergreen woods, and 
is always a straggling, prostrate shrub. Bryant says : 
" I have seen it in the cold, dark, evergreen forests of 
New England, the prostrate stem extending ten or fif- 



THE YEW. 163 

teen feet, buried or rooted in the leaves and mould, and 
throwing up, at intervals of one and two feet, branches 
from two to four, and even five feet in height. In such 
situations it retains the dark green of its foliage un- 
changed through the winter. It bears cultivation well, 
and is much improved by it, as it grows to a much larger 
size. When it is thickly shaded the foliage becomes 
rusty during the winter, but ordinarily it is of a beau- 
tiful dark green, and may be trained by pruning into 
any desired shape. 



CHAPTER XLIIL 

THE BOX-TREE AND HOLLY. 

The Box-tree. — Its Foreign Origin. — Its Western Attainments. — Its 
Usual Height. — Quality, Property, and Uses of its Wood. — Adapta- 
bility of its Foliage to Fantastic Designings. — How Propagated. — 
Winter Preservation of the Dwarf Species. — The Holly. — Its Va- 
rieties. — The American Variety Considered. — Its Range of Growth 
and Favorite Soil.— Its Ornamental Perfection. 

THE BOX-TREE. 

This tree, although a native of Europe and Asia, may 
truly be said to be cosmopolitan. It reaches its great- 
est height in this country in Philadelphia. Who has 
not seen it used as an edging or border for walks, and 
admired the rich, dark, chrome-green of its leaves ? It 
usually reaches to the height of from thirty to forty 
feet, with a very heavy wood — in fact, so heavy that it 
will sink in water — and so closely and finely grained 
that it is used for the finest land of mathematical- 
instrument work, and for the finest kinds of carving. 
In some of the finest European gardens the box-tree 
was formerly pruned into fanciful figures, and, on account 
of the thickness of its foliage, was especially adapted 
to this kind of work. 

The box is best propagated from cuttings from six 
to eight inches long, which readily root if put in early 
in the fall in a frame of sandy soil ; transplant to per- 
manent position in the spring. 

The dwarf species of the box, used for edging walks, 
should be carefully covered with snow, or some other 
covering that should remain all winter, care being taken 
not to smother it. 



THE HOLLY. 165 

THE HOLLY. 

There are two varieties of this tree, the American and 
the European holly. 

The American holly is found from Maine to Texas, 
and from Montana on the north to New Mexico on the 
south ; it grows to the height of from sixty to seventy 
feet, but in the New England States it is only a straggling 
shrub. It thrives best in deep, rich loam ; it will grow 
in dry, sandy soil, but not in cold, wet lands, or stiff clay. 

The wood of the holly is very ornamental — white, 
hard, and fine grained — and is esteemed for turning and 
fancy-work, where that of the box or any other tree of 
the same character can be used. 

It is nowhere abundant, and is of very slow growth, 
but wherever it can be suitably grown it merits more 
attention than has yet been bestowed on it. It makes 
a very useful and ornamental tree. 



CHAPTEE XLIY. 

THE LAUREL. 

The American Laurel. — Density of its Growth.— Its Resemblance to 
the Box. — A Name Derived from its Uses. — Description and Prop- 
erties of its Wood. — Soil and Climate of Thrift. — Its Seed and Flow- 
er Described. — Care Necessary to its Raising. — Sheep Laurel. — A 
Contrasted Difference. — Properties of its Leaves. — The Great Lau- 
rel. — Region of its Abundance. — Climate and Situation Congenial 
to its Growth. — Its Attained Height. — Its Floral Productiveness. — 
The Rose Bay. — Its Elevated Home. — Its Diminutive Height. — Its 
Beautifying Advantages. — Soil Unfavorable to its Thrift. — The 
Carolina Laurel Described and Qualified. 

THE AMERICAN LAUREL. 

This shrub grows in such thick and unwieldy masses 
that it is almost impenetrable, as its thick, unyielding 
branches interlock with each other; it reaches some- 
times to the height of eight or ten feet, and some claim 
that in the Southern States it reaches even higher, but 
this I cannot vouch for, as I have never seen it. Torrey 
claims that it attains the height of twenty feet in the 
Catskill Mountains, and Bryant speaks of laurel that was 
fifteen feet high and had a diameter of three inches. 

The laurel very closely resembles the box, more so 
than any other of the American trees, and in fact it is 
well fitted to supply its place. It is often called spoon- 
wood by the backwoods settlers, as they manufacture a 
great many of their rude kitchen utensils from it ; it 
is hard, close grained, and takes a fine polish. It will 
survive in most any soil except limestone clays, and 
thrives best with a slight northern exposure, its leaves 
being more brilliant and thicker than when exposed to 



THE LAUREL. 167 

the southern sun. It will not bear transplanting, espe- 
cially if of any size. The seed is small and requires 
the greatest skill to raise plants from it. The tree has 
flowers of a red color. 

SHEEP LAUREL. 

This laurel has smaller leaves and flowers of a deeper 
red than the American laurel, and continues a longer 
time in bloom. This also goes by the name of sheep- 
kill, as a great many sheep die from the effects of eat- 
ing its leaves ; but Bryant explains this, and probably 
he is right, by saying that it is more from the indigesti- 
ble nature of the leaves than from any poison contained 
in them. 

THE GREAT LAUREL. 

This species is found in New England, but much more 
abundantly farther south ; cool, moist, deeply shaded sit- 
uations are most congenial to its growth. It is found 
mostly along mountain torrents, and in these favorable 
situations reaches the height of twenty -five or thirty 
feet ; it bears a rose-colored flower with yellow dots on 
the inside, but sometimes the flowers are a pure white, 
with very thick leaves that are from four to ten inches 
long. Although a native of the Northern States, this 
tree is not cultivated as much as the rose bay. 

THE ROSE BAY. 

This tree is a native of the highest summits of the 
Alleghanies, and is found scattered all along the moun- 
tainous region from the Cat-skills to the loAvest edges of 
the Blue and Alleghany ridges. It is much smaller than 
the great laurel, as it seldom reaches the height of six 
feet, and is always cultivated for its beauty ; it does not 
thrive in soils impregnated with lime ; in transplanting, 
place in a bed of swamp-muck and rotten wood. 



168 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



THE CAROLINA LAUREL. 

This species of laurel is indigenous to the Southern 
States, and is found in abundance in the maritime dis- 
tricts of Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. It is 
an associate of the water oak and red maple, and attains 
its most vigorous growth the more southern is its field 
of propagation. It requires a cool and humid soil as 
an essential to its thrift, and is often found in swamps. 
Its wood is rose - colored, strong, and durable, with a 
fine, compact grain. Being susceptible of a brilliant 
polish, its wood is highly valued for the manufacture 
of furniture requiring a high degree of beauty, and 
might be substituted for mahogany. Its leaves, which 
are about six inches long, oval-acuminate, and glaucous 
on the under surface, diffuse a strong odor, and may be 
used in cookery. 

This tree is of elevated growth, sometimes attaining 
to a height of from sixty to ninety feet. It flowers in 
May. The female flowers occur in loose bunches, while 
those of the male occur in long clusters from the axils of 
the leaves. The varieties of this tree differ distinctly in 
their characteristics according to the latitude in which 
they grow. They may be propagated from seed, cut- 
tings, or layers. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

TIMBER TREES. 

List of the most Valuable Timber Trees in the United States, and their 
Suitable Climate. — Coniferous Trees. — Number of Seeds to the 
Pound of Each Species. 

The following is a list of the most valuable timber 
trees in the United States, viz. : 



1. 


White Oak. 


11. 


Pignut Hickory. 


2. 


Bur Oak. 


12. 


Linden, or Basswood, 


3. 


Sugar Maple. 


13. 


Tulip-tree. 


4. 


White Ash. 


14. 


European Larch. 


5. 


Blue Ash. 


15. 


Norway Spruce. 


6. 


Red Ash. 


16. 


White Pine. 


7. 


Black Walnut. 


17. 


Scotch Pine. 


8. 


Butternut. 


18. 


Red Pine. 


9. 


Chestnut. 


19. 


Corsican Pine. 


0. 


Shellbark Hickory. 


20. 


Catalpa. 



Of this list, Nos. 5, 6, 13, 19, and 20 are best suited to 
the climate of the southern half of the territory for 
which this work is designed. Nos. 7 and 9 would prob- 
ably not succeed in the most northern half of the United 
States, while Nos. 4, 12, 16, 17, and 18 would be of doubt- 
ful value near the southern limit. I am indebted to Mr. 
Bryant's extremely useful work on trees for the foregoing 
list, which I think will be invaluable to tree-growers, and 
I would also like to thank Mr. Douglass for the follow- 
ing list, or rather table, of the number of seeds in a 
pound of each of the following twenty species of conif- 
erous trees : 
8 



170 TREES AND TKEE-PLANTING. 



No. of Seeds 
in a Pound. 



Nordmann's Fir 8,000 

Common Silver Fir 8,000 

Siberian Silver Fir 40,000 

Fraser's Balsam Fir 45,000 

Hemlock Spruce 100,000 

Norway Spruce 58,000 

Balsam Fir 33,000 

White Spruce 160,000 

African Cedar 7,000 

Cembran Pine 2,700 

White Pine 20,000 

Austrian Pine 28,000 

Scotch Pine 69,000 

Corsican Pine 33,000 

Pitch Pine 66,000 

Mugho Pine 70,000 

Seaside Pine 12,000 

European Larch 60,000 to 75,000 

American Arbor- Vilse 320,000 

Chinese Arbor-Vita 33,000 

Pear 12, 000 to 15,000 

Apple 12,000 



CHAPTEE XLYI. 
THE EUCALYPTUS, OR THE FEVER-TREE. 

Its Nativity. — When Discovered, and by Whom. — When Introduced 
into France. — Its Medicinal Qualities, and by Whom Discovered. 
— Its Antiseptic Properties. — The Healthful Results of its Planting 
in Malarial Districts. — Its Tour of Travel and Introduction into 
America. — Eucalyptus - planting by the Trappist Monks, and Ex- 
pected Results. — Record of the Eucalyptus as a Disinfectant. — In- 
stanced Results of its Antiseptic and Disinfecting Properties. — Eu- 
calyptus-planting in New Orleans, and Healthful Results. — The 
Eucalyptus as a Preventive against Yellow and Jungle Fever, and 
Efforts for its Introduction into India. — Experience of English Tree- 
growers in Raising the Eucalyptus. — Its Destined Future. — Climate 
Best Suited to its Growth. — Its Successful Raising on the Pacific 
Coast. — Experiments on the Virtues of the Eucalyptus and Results 
in Detail. — Its Odorous Properties. — Its Other Uses. — Eucalyptus- 
planting in California, and Probable Returns. — An Opinion in Re- 
gard to the Southern and Southwestern States. 

Among his other great enterprises, Garibaldi, the great 
Italian hero, engaged in planting the eucalyptus, or blue 
gum-tree, about Kome, to prevent the malarial fever 
with which the inhabitants of that city were afflicted. 
As this tree is little known in our country, some ac- 
count of it may not be uninteresting. 

According to the best authorities it is an Australian 
production, and was first discovered by the French sci- 
entist La Mllardiere, who visited Yan Dieman's Land 
in 1792. It was brought into the south of France about 
the beginning of the present century, and noble speci- 
mens of it are now growing in the public gardens of 
Nice, Cannes, Hyeres, and Algiers. Its medicinal qual- 
ities did not, however, become known until about thirty 



172 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

years ago. The Spaniards first discovered that it was 
a preventive of fever, and the colonists of Tasmania 
used its leaves for a number of purposes. It was not 
until 1860 that its full power became known ; and, as a 
hygienic measure, it was introduced into the Spanish 
realm as an antiseptic. The people of Yalentia were 
suffering from malarial fever. Eucalyptus - trees were 
planted about the city, and a marked improvement in 
the healthfulness of the locality followed. So popular 
did it become that the trees had to be guarded, the in- 
habitants stealing the leaves every opportunity they 
had to make decoctions to drink. The Spaniards named 
the eucalyptus the fever-tree, and soon after it was in- 
troduced into Algeria. It next travelled to the Cape of 
Good Hope, Corsica, Sicily, South America, and Cali- 
fornia. 

Garibaldi's attempt to introduce it into Rome was not 
entirely new ; many years ago a few dozen specimens 
were planted about the walls, and although nearly all 
the trees lived, but few of them were vigorous. After a 
trial of many years in southern France it has failed to 
become hardy or suck up and destroy the poisonous va- 
pors of the swamps in which it was planted. 

The Trappist monks of the Tre Fontane set out large 
plantations of eucalyptus-trees, and have tended them 
with the utmost care. This may fairly be looked upon 
as a decisive experiment. The place known as Tre Fon- 
tane, or Three Fountains, lies some miles south of Rome, 
and is the seat of a magnificent monastery. Its climate, 
once healthy, in consequence of the destruction of all the 
timber in the vicinity has become so deadly that, notwith- 
standing its splendid buildings, rich mosaics, marbles, and 
frescoes, the place is wholly deserted during the summer 
months. To live there in June, July, and August is said 
to be almost certain death. 

The record of the eucalyptus-tree as an antiseptic 
and disinfectant is excellent. The districts in which it 



THE EUCALYPTUS, OR THE FEVER-TREE. 173 

is indigenous are healthy, and those into which it has 
been introduced and thriven have become healthy. A 
few miles from Algiers is a farm which was once noted 
for its deadly fevers. Life on it in the summer months 
was almost impossible. In the year 1867 the owners 
planted thirteen hundred eucalyptus - trees, and they 
grew nine feet in thirteen months, and not a single case 
of fever appeared, nor has there been any fever there 
since. Now if the eucalyptus will make the sickly cli- 
mate of the Fontane healthy, it can safely be relied on 
as an antiseptic and disinfectant; and I advise those 
curious in such matters to watch the success of the Trap- 
pist monks in its cultivation. 

Near Constantine, Algeria, there were vast swamps, 
never dry even in the hottest months, and productive of 
violent periodic fevers. About fourteen thousand euca- 
lyptus-trees were planted there, and they soon dried up 
every square foot of the swamp and lolled off the fevers. 
Maison Carrie, near Hanasch, was once a great market 
for quinine, as there was much fever, but since the blue- 
gum has been planted there the demand has almost en- 
tirely ceased. Mexico and Cuba were, also, a great 
many years ago, large consumers of quinine, and, as the 
mercantile books of export show, since the introduction 
of eucalyptus into those countries the demand has great- 
ly fallen off. 

Mr. John P. Curry relates the successful completion 
of a contract for planting two hundred thousand slips 
of the Australian gum-tree — eucalyptus — in the city of 
New Orleans. He says: "The sprouts having been 
raised in a hot-house, the planting of these trees com- 
menced some six years ago, the city government paying 
at the rate of ten cents for each tree planted. It has 
already been proven beyond question that this tree, when 
full-grown, absorbs, or, rather, kills the spores and 'mi- 
asmas ' in all malarial and fever-ridden districts wherever 
planted. It is also believed, by scientists and many med- 



174 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

ical experts, that it will prove a safeguard against the 
spread of yellow-fever, as it has been seen that, since 
these trees have been planted in the city of New Or- 
leans, yellow-fever has not become epidemic in that usu- 
ally yellow-fever section." 

It is reported a very unhealthy railroad-station in the 
Department of Yar, southern France, has been made 
healthy by a grove of forty eucalyptus-trees. 

Efforts are now being made to introduce this wonder- 
ful tree into Ceylon as an antidote to jungle-fever, and 
it is also being carried over in large numbers to the jun- 
gles of India. The English have given it great atten- 
tion, but the most intelligent of English tree-growers 
believe it too delicate to stand the cold water of English 
springs. The eucalyptus seems destined to make the 
tour of the world, but it will be found to grow best in 
the La Plata states and in California. Keferring to our 
own country, planters have met with the most wonder- 
ful success in cultivating it on the Pacific coast. One 
gentleman, who planted several thousand trees at Wil- 
mington, California, says : " When set out they were 
only from three to five inches in height, and in one year 
they grew six and eight feet high." Another gentle- 
man, the editor of the Kern County Courier, who owns 
a farm on which he is experimenting with eucalyptus- 
trees, wrote : " I have given the eucalyptus what I re- 
gard as a reasonably fair test on my own farm. This 
farm is cultivated by two Chinese families, one of the 
families near the north and the other near the south end 
of the land, about three fourths of a mile apart. The 
localities both parties inhabit are favorable to the devel- 
opment of malaria. The soil is rich, moist, and teeming 
with vegetable life, and the free sweep of the prevailing 
wind is obstructed by the intervention of dense thickets. 
As might be expected, they have every year, during the 
heated term, suffered from malarial fever. Last winter 
we determined to test the virtues of eucalyptus. In Feb- 



THE EUCALYPTUS, OR THE FEVER-TREE. 175 

ruary we gave to the party at the north end two ounces 
of blue-gum seed, with directions that it should be plant- 
ed near the house. It germinated finely, and produced 
thousands of young plants, but, unfortunately, most of 
them were killed by frost. About twelve hundred, how- 
ever, survived. These, when the heated term had com- 
menced, had attained an average height of about two 
feet, and emitted a strong aromatic or camphorous odor, 
perceptible at a distance of a hundred yards. In due 
time the party at the south end were visited by their 
usual mildly distressing fever, but, up to the present 
time (nearly the end of the fever season), we have looked 
in vain for the first symptoms to develop at the other 
end. They are all, to their own astonishment, in the 
most robust health. These trees now average more than 
three feet in height, and the atmosphere at their house 
is strongly impregnated with their odor. We have in- 
vestigated in vain for some other cause to which to attrib- 
ute the anomalous state of health of the inmates, and can 
find none but the reputed sanitary properties of this tree." 

But not only has the eucalyptus-tree become a favor- 
ite in California for its well-known medicinal properties, 
but it grows so fast and to such an enormous size that 
it is now being planted for wood. The enterprising Cal- 
ifornians have thought it worth while to form a com- 
pany for the purpose of raising eucalyptus. A gentle- 
man writing of the company said : 

"Two hundred acres of choice land have been secured 
w T ithin a mile or two of Los Angeles, on which eucalyp- 
tus, only four years and a half old from the seed, are 
now growing, which measure sixteen inches in circum- 
ference and twenty-two feet in height. It is estimated 
each of these trees is worth one dollar for fuel and more 
than that for manufacturing purposes. Foresters calcu- 
late that six hundred can be grown to the acre, and it 
requires no great calculation to show how profitable such 
a business may be made. The company organized in 



17G TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

Los Angeles propose purchasing land at thirty dollars 
per acre, and the cost of seed, planting, etc., will proba- 
bly average twenty-five cents per tree. The total for 
six hundred trees and the acre of land will reach one 
hundred and eighty to two hundred dollars. At the 
end of four years, supposing the trees to succeed as the 
average do, the timber will be worth six hundred dol- 
lars. 

" As these trees stump and sprout rapidly, another such 
yield of timber may be expected in four years more. 
Fuel, as is known, is very expensive in all the great val- 
leys of California. But, with the eucalyptus -tree, the 
farmers seem to have the remedy in their own hands; 
beyond which it affords an opportunity of securing an 
income by the sale of timber for manufacturing purposes." 

Farmers in California are generally availing them- 
selves of the advantages to be derived from the euca- 
lyptus. Mr. J. H. Byers, who has a farm near the town 
of Colusa, on the west bank of the Sacramento River, 
planted fifty thousand eucalyptus of the narrow-leaved, 
iron-barked variety, which he intends growing as an or- 
chard, the trees being set out about ten feet apart. His 
reason, he says, for planting iron-bark instead of gum- 
tree, or blue-gum, is that they stand the frost better. 

While I was at San Francisco Mr. W. A. Mathews 
came down from Sacramento to purchase fifty thousand 
eucalyptus of the iron-bark variety, which he said he 
was going to plant on about one hundred acres of rich 
land that had never been broken. He said he would 
raise cotton the first year between the rows of trees, and 
the second year sugar-beets, after which the trees would 
be grown alone, as they would probably cast too much 
shade for the successful cultivation of crops with them. 

Mr. Mathews in one season raised fifty thousand trees 
eight inches high from two and a half pounds of seed 
gathered from trees grown in Oakland, California. This 
is quite important, as it proves the native California seed 



THE EUCALYPTUS, OR THE FEVER-TREE. Ill 

will germinate quite as readily as the imported article. 
He used on one piece of land equal quantities of import- 
ed and California seed, and said he found the result so 
much in favor of the California seed that hereafter he 
would use no other kind. 

It is unnecessary to discuss further the merits of the 
eucalyptus-tree ; the evidence already adduced is so over- 
whelming in its favor that it must commend itself strongly 
to the favor of our farmers and tree-growers. It should 
be given a full and fair trial in all the states. I think it 
would thrive luxuriantly in the South. It should be 
planted at once in all our fever-and-ague districts ; and 
if it will suck up and dissipate the poisonous vapors lurk- 
ing in the swamps of Arkansas and other Southern states 
it will do service for America worth millions, and allevi- 
ate much suffering, as well as save many valuable lives. 
Let us by all means give the eucalyptus a fair trial. 

The Wilmington Enterprise reports that Colonel D. 
B. Wilson planted a park of two thousand eucalyptus- 
trees on the 20th of March, 1875. " The trees, when set 
out, were from four to six inches in height, and many of 
the lower branches in a year grew over four feet in length. 
It is no exaggeration to say that these trees have grown 
four feet in five months. We have similar instances 
of the extraordinary growth of the eucalyptus in San 
Diego." 

The eucalyptus has a tall, reddish, smooth stem, with 
ragged, hanging bark, and of a delicious, odorous, resin- 
ous, gummy smell. It grows to a diameter of from forty 
to forty-five inches. It is used as a scent for cigars, med- 
icine, tonic, throat-lozenge, and, above all, as a bath. 

The leaves and small branches are put in hot water, 
and it is stated that such baths remove neuralgic pains, 
rheumatism, and the malaria incidental to the country. 
The flower of the eucalyptus tribe is very like the myr- 
tle flower, is full of honey, and attracts a multitude of 
flies, bees, etc., and the birds naturally follow, for they 



US TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

find not only food, but thick, warm, leafy cover in win- 
ter, and shelter from the burning sun in summer. 

Finally, our opinion is that the cultivation of the euca- 
lyptus-tree will prove a most powerful climatizing agency 
towards the reclaiming of the uninhabitable malarious 
regions of our Southern and Southwestern States. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE OAK. 

Its Rank among Trees. — Procuring and Sowing its Seed. — The Burr 
Oak. — Its Attainable Growth. — Description of the Burr Oak as 
given by Dr. P. R. Hoy. — Its General Appearance and Beautify- 
ing Character. — Durability of its Wood. — Manner of Growth. — 
Its Utility and Ornament. — Its Abundance and Distribution. — Its 
Zone of Thrift. — Characteristics of its Foliage. — Conditions by 
which to Distinguish Species. — Opinions on Transplanting. — The 
White Oak, the Post Oak, the Swamp Chestnut Oak, the Black 
Oak, the Scarlet Oak, the Red Oak, the Pin Oak, the Willow Oak, 
the Laurel Oak, the Black- Jack Oak, the Spanish Oak, and the Live- 
Oak Separately and Variously Described. 

The oak is the most valuable of all trees. It can read- 
ily be raised from the seed, which should be gathered in 
the fall, after the acorns drop. The best month to gath- 
er seed is October, and it should be planted at once, or 
kept in a cool, moist condition until spring. The jjlants 
should be set out about eight feet apart, and between 
the rows some upright-growing trees can be planted as 
nurses for the oaks. These latter should be cut away 
whenever it is necessary to make room for the growth. 
Burr oak and chestnut oak are best for fuel, and red oak 
the best for rails. 

THE BTJRR OAK. 

The burr oak attains immense size in Indiana and 
some other Northern States. A gentleman living in 
Marion County, Indiana, told the writer: "The burr 
oaks in this neighborhood attain the diameter of six 
feet, and with a stem, in one instance, of sixty feet high 
without a limb." The following description of the burr 



180 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

oak is given by Dr. P. K. Hoy, of Kacine, an accom- 
plished naturalist, and member of the Philadelphia 
Academy of Natural Sciences: "This is, perhaps, the 
most ornamental of our oaks. Nothing can exceed the 
graceful beauty of these trees when not crowded or 
cramped in their growth, but left free to follow the laws 
of their development. Who has not admired these trees 
in our extensive burr -oak openings? Its large leaves 
are a dark green above and a bright silvery white be- 
neath, which gives the tree a singularly fine appearance 
when agitated by the wind. The wood is tough, close- 
grained, and more durable than the white oak, especially 
when exposed to frequent changes of moisture and dry- 
ness. Did the tree grow to the same size it would be 
preferred for most uses. Abundant and richly worthy 
of cultivation, both for utility and ornament, burr oaks 
in Wisconsin do not generally attain more than one foot 
in diameter, and the limbs grow near the ground, mak- 
ing a sort of espalier, and rarely growing higher than 
thirty to forty feet, straight, with very rough bark. 
The acorn is enclosed in a burr something like a chest- 
nut, hence their name." 

This is the most useful of all trees. Loudon describes 
somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred and 
twenty, and this number has since been added to. These 
trees are found mostly in the temperate zone ; those that 
we find in the tropics are in elevated positions. It 
is found distributed over Europe and North America. 
These trees are of a beautiful appearance, and have not 
been paid sufficient attention as ornamental trees. Bry- 
ant says : " In many of the oaks the form of the leaves 
varies so much with different conditions of the tree, or 
different stages of its growth, that it constitutes an un- 
certain characteristic by which to distinguish the species. 
Consequently, where the wood is similar, different spe- 
cies are sometimes confounded under one name. The 
fructification affords a more certain mode of distinction." 



THE OAK. 181 

It seems to be the opinion of many that the oak should 
be left where it grows from the seed, but throughout 
Europe the tree-planters affirm that it is best to trans- 
plant them. 

THE WHITE OAK. 

This is one of our most lofty trees. It is found almost 
everywhere east of the Mississippi, although in some 
sections it is by no means abundant. It is mostly found 
on soils of moderate fertility. It is used wherever 
strength, compactness, or durability are wanted. It is 
next to the live-oak in value. I would here call the at- 
tention of the landowners of Illinois to the rapid de- 
struction of the white oak in their state, and would 
mildly intimate that they will run short of timber if they 
do not take means to stop the wholesale destruction. 
The white oak is one of the slowest growers, but does 
not slacken its growth as it becomes larger. 

THE POST OAK. 

This tree, which grows to the height of about forty 
feet, is met with in a soil of yellow, clayey loam. It is 
inclined to branch, and seldom or never furnishes timber 
of any length. Its acorns are small and sweet. The 
wood is more durable than the white oak : it is strong", 
fine-grained, and of a yellowish color. It is used in the 
construction of posts, wagon-wheels, etc. 

THE SWAMP CHESTNUT OAK. 

This tree grows to the height of eighty or ninety feet, 
with a circumference of from six to eight feet, and pre- 
serves its thickness from forty to fifty feet. It is found 
in rich bottom-lands. Rock chestnut oak is one of the 
varieties of this tree ; its wood is so heavy as to sink in 
water. Swamp white oak is another variety of this tree. 
It is very marked, and is found farther north than the 
chestnut oak, and its wood is of much better quality. 



182 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



THE BLACK OAK. 

This is one of our largest and loftiest trees, being 
ninety feet or more in height, and from five to six feet 
in diameter. Its wood is rather coarse-grained, but pos- 
sesses considerable strength and durability. It is es- 
teemed next to the live-oak. Its bark is used for dyeing 
and also for tanning, being very rich in tannic acid. 
This tree ripens its fruit biennially. As is the case with 
all the trees that ripen their fruit biennially, the quality 
of the timber is inferior to that of the timber that ripens 
its fruit annually. It is found all over the United States, 
and flourishes in poorer soils than the white oak. It is 
the only one of the oak family that grows on the barren 
sand-ridges of Illinois. 

THE SCARLET OAK. 

Some botanists call the scarlet oak merely a variety 
of the black oak; but it differs in some particulars, 
viz., the leaves turn to a bright red in the fall; the 
acorns have a white kernel, and not yellow, as in the 
black oak. The wood is of a very poor quality, and for 
fuel and timber I cannot say that it is to be recommend- 
ed very highly for cultivation. 

THE RED OAK. 

Height, eighty feet; diameter, six feet; and is the 
fastest-growing of the oaks. Is a very handsome and 
ornamental tree, and will grow on almost any soil, either 
rich or poor. It is found all over the United States. The 
wood is coarse-grained, of a red color, open pores, and 
of little durability. It is sometimes used when timber 
is not abundant. 

THE PIN OAK. 

This is a large, ornamental tree, coarse-grained, open- 
pored, and not very durable. It thrives best in moist 
ground. It has a conical head and a light-green, beau- 
tiful foliage. 



THE OAK. 183 



THE WILLOW OAK. 

The willow oak grows to the height of fifty or sixty 
feet. Its leaves very much resemble those of the willow. 
The wood is very coarse-grained and strong, but it is 
not fit for fuel. If any amateur has any curiosity on 
the subject of this tree I would advise him to cultivate 
it, but that is the only time I would recommend it for 
cultivation. 

THE LAUREL OAK. 

This tree usually reaches from forty to fifty feet in 
height, and is about two feet in diameter. It much re- 
sembles the laurel in its foliage, and so takes its name. 
It is used in rural districts for rails ; sometimes for house- 
frames. The wood is coarse-grained and not valuable. 

THE BLACK-JACK OAK. 

The only use I ever found this tree put to was for 
fuel, and as such it is esteemed more than any other of 
the oak family. It is a small tree, with generally a 
very crooked trunk. It grows in any soil, but is found 
in the most barren. It seldom exceeds thirty feet in 
height. 

THE SPANISH OAK. 

This tree is sometimes confounded with the red oak, 
whose wood it very much resembles. It is common in 
the maritime parts of the Southern States and southern 
Illinois, but is scarce in the Mississippi valley. In fa- 
vorable situations it becomes a large tree. 

THE LIVE-OAK. 

The famous live-oak is found only in the Southern 
States, more especially in Florida. It is more esteemed 
for ship-building than any tree known. It is, like the 
cork oak, an evergreen. It frequently reaches from 
eighty to ninety feet in height, and from five to six feet 
in diameter. 



CHAPTER XLYIII. 

THE BERBERRY. 

Its Attainable Growth under Culture. — The Common Berberry. — Its 
Ornamental Value and Manner of Training. — Its Thrift and General 
Appearance. — Where Indigenous. — Soil Suitable to its Thrift. — Its 
Floral and Fruit Productiveness. — Uses of its Fruit and Leaves. — 
Medicinal and other Properties of its Bark.— A Prejudice against it. 
— Varieties and Original Species, How Raised. — Berberis aquifolium. 
— Its Beauty. — Its Range of Growth and High Altitude of Thrift. — 
Quality and Color of its Fruit. — Its Botanical Description. — Medic- 
inal Properties of its Root. — Its Medicinal Extracts, and Complaints 
for which Prescribed. — Medicinal Properties of its Berries. 

COMMON BERBERRY. 

The many species of berberries in a wild state are 
mere shrubs, but when cultivated attain considerable 
elevation, sometimes arriving at the height of thirty 
feet. The common berberry when raised for ordinary 
purposes, such as hedging, requires but little culture, but 
when grown for ornament the lower branches to the 
height of eight feet of its trunk should be trimmed ; so, 
also, the many suckers which it throws out should be re- 
moved as they appear. Treated in this way, and nour- 
ished by a deep, well-manured soil, it forms a singularly 
beautiful tree, and will endure to a great age. Its growth 
is rapid, of an upright stem, with branched, drooping 
foliage. It is indigenous to both the Eastern and West- 
ern hemispheres ; and in the United States has natural- 
ized itself in waste places and about cultivated grounds, 
in which situations it is found of ordinary thrift, more 
especially on calcareous soils. Its blossoms, which ap- 
pear in April, May, and June, are of a yellow color, 



THE BERBERRY. 185 

abundant, and produce a pleasing appearance; but in 
order to reduce the number of bunches, and so increase 
the size of its fruit, the racemes of its flowers should be 
thinned out. It bears a fruit of an oblong, oval form, 
which, when ripe, is of a red, white, purple, or black color, 
according to variety of species. Its berries, while green, 
pickled in vinegar make a good substitute for capers, 
also as a flavoring, and when fermented produce an acid 
wine ; when ripe, and prepared as jellies and other pre- 
serves, they are considered delicious and extremely whole- 
some. Its leaves, which are acid in taste, might be used, 
like sorrel, to season meat with ; a yellow dye is procured 
from the inner bark of both the stem and roots, and its 
astringent principle is so abundant that it is sometimes 
used in tanning leather, which it dyes a fine yellow. 
Medicinally its bark is purgative and tonic. 

There exists a prejudice against the berberry as a 
hedge-plant, on account of its supposed influence in pro- 
ducing blight in corn -crops when sown in proximity 
thereto, by impoverishing the soil through the agency 
of its numerous suckers. Tarieties are raised by suck- 
ers, but when an original species is required seed is used 
in its propagation. 

"berberis aqtjifolium," or the holly-leaved berberry. 

Of this genus there are four species — Beroerris rejpens, 
aquifoUicm, pinnata, and nervosa — which have green, 
unequally pennate leaves, and dark globose berries. The 
holly-leaved berberry is a shrub of considerable beauty, 
and is on this account cultivated in gardens and by flor- 
ists, who find a large sale for it as a flowering-shrub. 
The species Aquifolium inhabits the coast-range moun- 
tains, and delights in the high altitudes common to the 
middle elevations of the Big Horn and Wolf ranges, the 
head-waters of Arkansas, and in the Capatoon ranges. 
It is generally found abundantly upon exposures to the 
south and east, in the rich vegetable mould which cov- 
8* 



186 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

ers these hill-sides, and upon almost barren, rocky places, 
especially the f el spathic granite, and porphyritic forma- 
tions. It flowers in May, and ripens its fruit in August 
and September. The fruit is acidulous, and in flavor re- 
minds one of the lime ; dark purple in color, and cov- 
ered with a bluish bloom. 

The botanical description of the holly-leaved berberry 
is as follows : It is a shrub which grows to the height 
of six feet, on the Pacific coast, with leaflets in pairs 
from seven to eleven ; the lower pair distant from the 
stem, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, one and one half to four 
inches long, acuminate, evergreen, shining above, numer- 
ous spinous teeth ; racemes one and one half to two inch- 
es long, clustered chiefly in the subterminal axils ; fruit 
globose. 

The root of this plant is the part which is used as med- 
icine. It is extremely hard and tough, of a bright, gold- 
en-yellow color, with an intense but pleasant bitter taste. 
It yields its virtues to water and dilute alcohol, and 
makes a very good medicinal preparation. The medic- 
inal extracts of this plant are useful in the complaint 
known as " mountain fever," which is a bilious fever 
often assuming the typhoid form ; and they are also valu- 
able in venereal affections, and in disorders of the stomach 
arising from improper and insufficient food, privations, 
etc., to which persons are often subjected in the western 
mountain country. Its berries are often employed as a 
remedy in scurvy, and are made into sauce and used as 
food. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE BUCKTHORN. 

Its Growth and General Appearance. — Its Floral and Fruit Productive- 
ness. — Medicinal and other Uses of its Berries. — Its Ornamental 
Value. — Its Suitability as a Hedge-plant. — How Propagated, and 
Manner of Culture and Training. — Its other Characteristics. 

This tree is of low growth, rarely exceeding fifteen 
feet in height, having numerous and irregular branches 
covered with thorns. Its leaves are of a bright-green 
color, about an inch in length and smooth of surface. 
Its flowers, which appear in May and June, form in clus- 
ters, and are of a yellowish-green color. Its fruit ripens 
and is gathered in autumn in the northern part of the 
United States, and is of a globular form and bluish- 
black color. The juice of its berries is used as a dye or 
stain, and also as a vegetable paint. Its berries are 
strongly purgative, but are not much used in medicine 
owing to the severity of their action. 

The buckthorn is cultivated both for use and orna- 
ment in the New England States and other places, and is 
considered very suitable for hedging, in consequence of 
its robust and rigid habit of growth. It may be prop- 
agated from seed, cuttings, or layers, and will thrive 
best in a rich, moist soil. For hedging, sow seed to the 
depth of half an inch, in a shady situation, so as to 
prevent the sun acting severely on the young plants 
as they come above ground ; transplant at nine inches 
apart in single rows, and prune back in the following 
spring to within six or eight inches of their bed's sur- 
face ; this will cause the hedge to be thick at the bot- 



188 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 

torn, which is a considerable advantage where strength 
and durability are requisite. All that remains at this 
period of their growth is to keep the plants clear from 
weeds, and trim the hedge every season. The month 
of June has been found a good time to clip, as the 
plants soon recover their beauty of foliage, owing to 
the active circulation of their sustaining juices at that 
season. 

As this plant attains considerable height, it is well 
suited for arching or trellis- work, and, by being trained, 
will form a beautiful, densely shaded arbor or covered 
walk. Its natural growth being sufficiently interwoven, 
it needs no interlacing, and may be clipped into any 
shape or form which the caprice of the grower may im- 
agine. It is not habited to throw out suckers, nor is it 
ever encumbered by dead wood. Owing to the green 
coloring contrasted by its flowers, it does not show much 
gayety when in bloom ; but when laden with its bluish- 
black berries it presents quite a striking appearance, 
highly ornamental. 



CHAPTER L. 

THE GORDONIA. 

The Woolly- flowered Gordonia.— Its Attainable Height. — Its Southern 
Nativity. — Its General Appearance Described. — Description and 
Uses of its Bark and Wood. — Its Botanical Description. — Its Agree- 
able Floral Production. — Soil Suited to its Thrift. — Its Artificial 
Raising. — How Propagated. — The Pubescent-leaved Gordonia. — 
Where Indigenous. — Its Ornamental Value and Extensive Culture. 
— Its Floral Bearing. — Its Foliage Described. 

THE WOOLLY-FLOWERED GORDONIA. 

This is a sub-evergreen tree, and attains the height of 
from fifty to sixty feet, with a diameter of stem eigh- 
teen or twenty inches. It is a native of low latitudes, 
and appears to be confined to the maritime parts of the 
United States from Virginia to lower Louisiana. Its 
growth is straight and clear of shoots to about half 
its height, where its branches diverge regularly, and, 
as they ascend, spread more loosely, forming an exten- 
sive spread of foliage. The bark on old trees, which is 
used in tanning, is thick and furrowed, but is smooth 
while the tree is young. The leaves are toothed on the 
edges, from three to six inches in length, alternate, oval- 
acuminate in shape, and smooth and glossy on the up- 
per surface. It blooms about the middle of July, and 
its flowers, which are broad, white, and sweet-scented, 
come forth in succession during August and September. 
This tree possesses the singularly agreeable property of 
bearing flowers when it is only three or four feet high. 

The wood of the gordonia is light, of a mahogany hue 
and silky texture, which fits it for use in the inside of 
furniture. It is, however, liable to decay when exposed 



190 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

to alternations of temperature. A barren, moist soil is 
best suited to its growth, where its thrift is surprisingly 
luxuriant. When artificially raised the soil should be 
prepared of a compost of peat, leaf -mould, and sand, kept 
moist and shaded from the sun. It is propagated gen- 
erally by layers, but sometimes from seed, and belongs to 
the same natural family as our tea-plant of commerce, 
hohce. 

THE PUBESCENT-LEAVED GORDONIA, 

or Franldinia, is a deciduous tree of small growth, rarely 
exceeding thirty feet in height. It is indigenous to the 
State of Georgia, and possesses no remarkable proper- 
ties except ornament, for which it has been extensively 
cultivated. It bears a white flower about three inches 
in diameter, of an agreeable odor, which blooms in July 
and continues to bud and blow till destroyed by the 
frost. Its native soil, like that of the preceding spe- 
cies, is poor and swampy. Its leaves are shiny above, 
oblong in shape, and finely toothed on their edges. 



CHAPTEK LI. 

THE PRIDE OF INDIA. 

Its Climate of Thrift, and Attainable Growth. — Its Beautifying and 
Ornamental Elegance. — Its Diffused Existence. — Opinions as to its 
Nativity. — How Propagated and Manner of Culture. — Its Favorite 
Soil. — Description of its Leaf, Flower, and Fruit. — Medicinal Prop- 
erties of its Berries. — Description and Uses of its Wood. — Its Seed, 
How Obtained. 

The Pride of India flourishes in Florida and other 
Southern States, where it attains its fullest magnitude, 
arriving at the height of from thirty to forty feet in fa- 
vored situations, and is highly esteemed for its beautify- 
ing and ornamental elegance. It is also widely diffused 
through many countries of Europe and Asia, and is chiefly 
cultivated for the beautifying effect produced by its 
floral productiveness and magnificent foliage. Opinions 
have fixed Persia as the country of its original nativity, 
while others hold that it has been naturalized to the 
United States at an early age, being found growing in 
wild profusion in the forests of the South., 

This tree may be propagated from seed, which should 
be sown in beds of light, moderately rich soil at not less 
than two inches apart, so as to allow for the develop- 
ment of its leaves and shoots. Its favorite ground is a 
warm loamy or sandy soil, which well fits it for planting 
in worn-out fields. The young plants may be taken up 
at the end of the first season and planted in nursery 
lines ; and at the end of the second year they can be re- 
moved to their position of permanency. When plant- 
ed singly its growth is less elevated than when grown 
collectively. Its leaves are large, of a dark-green color, 



192 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

doubly pinnate, and composed of smooth, acuminate, 
denticulated leaflets. They change color and fall on 
the arrival of cold weather, which in the Southern States 
usually sets in about December. Its odorous flowers, 
which appear in April or May, resemble those of the 
lilac -tree, and form beautiful axillary clusters at the 
extremity of the shoot. Its fruit is round or oblong in 
shape, of a yellowish color when ripe, and is supposed to 
be somewhat poisonous, and has been used, mixed with 
grease, to destroy rats and other vermin. An oil is ex- 
tracted from the pulpy part of its berries, of a bitter 
taste, which is considered a narcotic stimulant. The 
wood of this tree is of a reddish color, sufficiently strong 
and durable for use in architectural structures, is some- 
times used as a substitute for ash, and is said to make 
good fuel. 

To obtain the seed for sowing, the berries should be 
mixed with a light, sandy earth, and laid in a flat heap 
of not more than two inches in depth, and allowed to re- 
main in that state for a year, when the seed may be sep- 
arated from the soil by sifting. 



CHAPTER LII. 

THE MAHOGANY-TREE. 

Where Indigenous. — Its Primitive Nativity. — Its General Physique De- 
scribed. — Its Floral Productiveness. — Peculiarity of its Seed. — A 
Reason for its Dispersed Existence. — Season of Felling. — Varieties, 
and Renowned Uses of its Wood. — Unseasonable Felling, and Pre- 
cautionary Measures to Prevent Imperfectness. — Date when Intro- 
duced into England. — An Interesting Account of its Introduction. 
— Effect of Soil and Climate on the Texture of "its Wood. — Its Du- 
rability. — Its Present Uses. — Dimensions of Exported Logs and their 
Value. — Method of Test for Soundness in Logs. — How the Mahog- 
any became Naturalized to the Eastern Hemisphere. — A Species of 
the Burman Forests. — Its Characteristics Compared with those of its 
American Cousin. 

The mahogany-tree is indigenous to the southern parts 
of Florida, and is found in its primitive nativity in the 
warmest parts of the American continent. It is an inter- 
tropical tree and grows plentifully in the West India 
Islands, though the principal supply to the United States 
is received from Central and South America. In phy- 
sique it is one of the most beautiful and magnificent of 
trees, and as a growth it is considered one of the most 
valuable of the vegetable kingdom. Its trunk often 
reaches to the height of forty feet, with a diameter of 
six feet ; and its proportionately large and numerous 
branches, covered with a dense, glossy foliage, form a 
wide - spreading summit which extends over a consid- 
erable area and throws a shade pleasantly cool and 
impenetrable. It bears variously-colored flowers, some 
whitish, others red or saffron color. Its seed, which 
is enclosed in a shell or thick husk, ripens about the 
middle of summer, and disperses itself over extensive 
9 



194 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

areas by means of its winglike appendages, some f ailing 
into crevices or clefts of rock, others upon more nutri- 
tious soil, but all or many germinating, and after years 
at length attain immense proportions, and reproduce in 
turn. The flight of the seed of the mahogany -tree 
accounts, to a great extent, for its dispersed existence, 
it never being found growing in groups or clusters, as 
might be supposed. The usual season for felling this 
tree is spring or autumn. If felled in the intermediate 
months the wood is liable to crack in seasoning ; but as 
a precautionary measure to this event, if immersed in 
water as soon as possible after being felled, or until ship- 
ment kept in a moist atmosphere, no damage need be 
expected, as the temperature during transportation and 
the gradual seasoning of a more temperate climate than 
its own prevent the cracking which might otherwise be 
occasioned. 

The wood of the mahogany-tree has long been known 
for its excellence of qualities for all domestic furnishings. 
Its introduction into England dates back to 1724, and an 
interesting account of the use to which it was first put 
in that country is given in Browne's " Trees of America." 
He says : " Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician in the be- 
ginning of the last century, had a brother, a West India 
captain, who brought over some planks of this wood as 
ballast. As the doctor was then building a house in 
King Street, Covent Garden, his brother thought they 
might be useful to him, but the carpenters finding the 
wood too hard for their tools, they were laid aside as 
useless. Soon after, Mrs. Gibbons wanted a candle-box ; 
the doctor called on Wollaston, his cabinet-maker, in 
Long Acre, and requested him to make one of some 
wood that lay in his garden. Wollaston also complained 
that it was too hard ; the doctor said that he must get 
stronger tools. The candle-box at last was made, and 
so highly approved of that the doctor insisted on having 
a bureau made of the same wood, which was accordingly 



THE MAHOGANY-TKEE. 195 

done ; and the fine color, polish, etc., were so pleasing 
that he invited all his friends to come and see it. Among 
them was the Duchess of Buckingham, who begged 
some of the wood of Dr. Gibbons, and employed Wollas- 
ton to make a similar bureau." From this introduction 
it came into general use throughout the civilized world. 

The wood of the mahogany-tree is of various degrees 
of shade, though its most common color is a reddish and 
yellowish brown, often mottled and veined with darker 
hues ; there are also several special varieties much ad- 
mired for their beauty and variety of coloring. The 
wood of the branches is closer grained, more rich and 
variegated, and therefore more adapted for ornamental 
purposes, than that of the trunk, which is considered 
more valuable. The texture, however, varies according 
to the soil and situation upon which it is grown: that 
which grows upon rocky ground or elevated places being 
heavy, close-grained, of small dimensions, and variously 
tinted ; while the light and porous descriptions are pro- 
duced upon low-lying and rich soil. It is a very strong 
and durable wood when kept dry, and was formerly used 
in ship-building, for which purpose its strength and solid- 
ity well fitted it. It is at present most generally used 
in cabinet-making, for which purpose it is universally 
admired. 

Of the exported wood from Central America there 
are some logs of immense size and value on record. The 
largest measured seventeen feet in length, fifty-seven 
inches in breadth, and sixty-four inches in depth. Another 
log of seven tons realized on sale in England a rate of 
£210 per ton ; from this we may imagine the extraordi- 
nary value of this wood. The trunk of the tree, from 
its size, is deemed the most valuable portion, and on being 
felled is subjected to a test to ascertain its soundness. 
The usual method resorted to in this test is that by 
which the unimpeded transmission of sound becomes dis- 
cernible (or otherwise) throughout the log. In the case 



196 TREES AND TKEE-PLANTING. 

of an impediment or faulty part the sound produced by 
a tap on one end of the log is not conveyed throughout 
its length to the other end, and so it becomes known if 
the wood be in a state of decay. 

The mahogany has become naturalized to the Eastern 
Hemisphere by its introduction into India, where it thrives 
luxuriantly, and in many parts grows abundantly. A 
species of this tree is found growing profusely in the 
forests of British and Independent Burmah, where it is 
known by the name of " Pingado," and is used as rail- 
road ties, and in bridging and buildings, as beams and 
piles. It is largely exported from that country, and is 
considered a strong, serviceable, and durable timber, and 
bears many characteristics in common with its fellow of 
the American continent. 



CHAPTER LIU. 

GRAPE-VINES. 

The American Wild Vine.— Attention Paid to its Classification.— Dis- 
tinctive Characteristics of Species.— Delicacy of their Habit.— Traits 
of Good Quality of the Grape - vine. — Where Indigenous. — Its 
General Bearing. — The Celebrated Varieties of North America. — 
Their Favored Qualities.— Collective Sketches of the Qualities and 
Properties of the most Hardy Varieties.— Manner of Planting the 
Grape-vine, and After-Management. 

THE AMERICAN WILD VINE. 

The classifying of the many species of the grape-vine 
has, of late years, been given much attention, and the 
distinctive characteristics of each studied and published 
for public reading, so as to induce an interest for their 
more general culture. In most varieties the form and 
color of the leaf, the shape, color, and quality of the 
fruit, and the manner of inducing a successful thrift in 
the vinery have been the subjects of investigation and 
inquiry. 

The production of the grape-vine for ornament, its 
after-culture, and the necessary care required to perfect 
its appearance are the principal points of acquirement ; 
but when planted with the object of producing fruit the 
necessity of understanding the many peculiarities of the 
different varieties becomes a most prominent feature in 
the study. The grape being a fruit most subject to epi- 
curian criticism, and the many varieties being produced 
with more or less success as the reward of patient exer- 
tion, it needs the utmost familiarity of the grower with 
the many delicacies of its habit in progressive growth 
to meet the many comments which may be brought to 



198 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

bear upon its quality. To be welcomed by the public a 
new grape should be: First, a vigorous grower, with 
strong and durable foliage ; Second, it must be hardy ; 
Third, the fruit must be of high quality. There are 
other requirements under these general heads — the roots 
must be firm and capable of withstanding the attacks 
of insect enemies ; the productive organs must be normal 
and cultured to their proper development with the ut- 
most care, so that a full and satisfactory crop may be 
grown. The skin must be thick and tough, so that the 
fruit will not burst or rot while ripening, and keep well 
after packing for winter use. 

* * * * * * 

The American wild vine is indigenous to the United 
States, and is found in wild profusion in sheltered situa- 
tions in woods from British America to the mcst south- 
ern of the Southern States. The general bearing of this 
tendril-climber is of good height, sometimes running to 
the highest tree-top. Its branches are clothed with a 
covering of brownish soft hairs or pubescence. Its leaves 
are usually from four to six inches in diameter, three- 
lobed in some varieties, and covered on their under sides 
with a rusty-brown coating of a mucous consistency. Its 
flowers, borne on numerous racemes with short branches, 
appear in June, and are of a yellowish-green color. Its 
fruit when ripe, according to variety, is generally of a 
dark purple, amber colored, or greenish white, of a pleas- 
ing flavor and juicy pulp. 

Of the many varieties of this species cultivated in 
North America the most celebrated are the Isabella and 
Catawba. These two varieties are specially preferred 
in the middle and northern parts of the United States, 
principally on account of the abundance and quality of 
their fruit and the facility with which they are propa- 
gated. As it will be unnecessary to enter into a considera- 
tion of the many varieties, we shall mention only a few 
that have been successfully brought under cultivation, 



GE APE-VINES. 199 

and give collective sketches of the qualities and proper- 
ties of the most hardy, as follows : 

THE ISABELLA GRAPE-VINE. 

The Isabella grape variety possesses great vigor of 
growth and is an abundant fruit-bearer. It flourishes as 
far north as New York, and produces large, dark-purple, 
juicy berries of an oval form and musky flavor. It 
thrives best in a moderately rich, loose, and moist soil, 
free from alkali, salts, or other impurities; generally, 
cleared wood-land with an aspect inclined towards the 
South or East, sheltered from the wind and shaded from 
the intense heat of the sun, is well fitted for its growth. 
The region of the maize or Indian-corn crop may be re- 
lied on as being well suited to the production of this 
grape. Its range of thrift extends along the Atlantic 
coast, and west, beyond the Eocky Mountains, as far 
north as the forty-ninth degree of latitude. " The most 
favorable season for planting this variety is near the end 
of February in the Southern States, and about the first 
of April in Pennsylvania and New York." 

THE CATAWBA GRAPE. 

This vine was originally obtained from the banks of 
the Catawba River, and is an abundant fruit-producer. 
Its berries are large, and occur in loose bunches of a 
beautiful appearance, varying in color and flavor accord- 
ing to the degree of shade and sunshine to which they 
are subjected during development. The effect of the 
sun produces a bluish -purple color on those fully sub- 
jected to its influence, while the berries which grow par- 
tially or entirely in the shade vary in color from a lilac 
hue to a translucent white. The Catawba grape is an 
early variety, is much esteemed as a table fruit, and is 
considered one of the most popular for winter use and 
long keeping. 



200 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 



THE ELSANBOROUGH GRAPE. 

The Elsanborough vine is indigenous to New Jersey, 
where it was originally produced. It is noted for the 
production of a sweet, juicy fruit, which grows in me- 
dium-sized clusters, of a blue color, and is said to make 
an agreeable wine. 

THE CAROLINA GRAPE. 

This variety is esteemed as a table fruit. Its berries 
are large, of an oblate form, pale-red color, sweet, pleas- 
ant-flavored, and juicy. The original vine is said to have 
been found on the eastern coast of Maryland. It is 
deemed suitable to our climate as far north as Philadel- 
phia, and might be successfully cultivated as a wall fruit 
in much higher latitudes. This, with the other varieties, 
may be propagated from seed, cuttings, or layers, and by 
grafting and inoculation. 

In planting the grape-vine, the first consideration nec- 
essary to success is the choosing of a favorable site ; this 
should be facing south or east. 

Having pitched upon the ground, the next operation 
is to dig parallel trenches, at from five to ten feet apart, 
according as the ground is flat or steep. Where the 
slope is considerable it will be only necessary to have 
these trenches five feet apart, and as the situation ap- 
proaches to a plain or level surface the full distance of 
ten feet will be required between each trench. The 
trenches should be dug to the depth of two feet on a 
plain surface, and to four feet on a hill-side, in order that 
the roots may penetrate to moisture and be beyond the 
reach of drought. In selecting cuttings, they should be 
chosen from the most fruitful and healthy part of the 
vine, and cut off close to the parent stem; and, as the 
top buds of all shoots are unfruitful, they should be 
trimmed off in an oblique direction, the sloping side 
being opposite that containing the uppermost bud. The 



GRAPE-VINES. 201 

cuttings should be planted in such a manner as to leave 
a single bud above ground, even with the surface, and, 
to insure the thrift of the future vine, the trenches 
should be filled in and around them with virgin or vege- 
table mould, which may be obtained from the nearest 
woods, if not already at hand ; or, rotted manure will 
answer the purpose if procurable ; and in case a settle- 
ment or depression of the earth occurs, so as to expose 
more than one bud, soil should be promptly added to 
make up the discrepancy. The most favorable time for 
planting is when the atmosphere is calm, and as soon 
after the separation of the cutting from the old vine as 
practicable. 



CHAPTEE LIY. 

THE COMMON APPLE-TREE. 

Diffusion of the Common Apple- tree. — Period of Cultivation in the 
United States.— Its Original Nativity.— Its Wild Thrift and Gen- 
eral Deportment. — The Many Varieties of its Parentage. — Hinder- 
ances to its Longevity.— Exceptional Trees, Where Grown. — Soil 
and Situation Necessary to Perfect its Productiveness. — How Prop- 
agated. — Management Necessary when Propagating from Seed. 

TnE common apple-tree is widely diffused over many 
of the countries of the northern half of the Eastern Hem- 
isphere, where it is found as far north as the sixty-second 
degree of latitude, and southward in China, Japan, and the 
southern parts of India. It is also indigenous to North 
America, where it grows in a wild, stunted state on the 
borders of woodlands and in hedgerows, but was not 
brought under culture in the colonies until the seventeenth 
century, when zeal and rural economy in its cultivation 
were attended with most successful results. As to its 
also being a native of the eastern part of the world we 
can have no doubt, as mention is made of its fruit by the 
writers of Holy Writ, and authority has since established 
the estimation in which it was held ; and, also, " it has 
been singularly connected with the first transgression 
and fall of man, the fruit of which is said to have been 
eaten by Eve in Paradise." This tree, in its natural state, 
under favorable nurture, usually attains the height of 
thirty or forty feet, with a diameter of twelve to eigh- 
teen inches. Its natural growth of trunk is crooked and 
distorted, and that of its branches horizontal and wide 
spreading, and covered with an abundant foliage. It 
is the parent of innumerable varieties, called cultivated 



THE COMMON APPLE-TREE. 203 

trees, which have been produced from its seed and by 
grafting. Of these varieties it is impossible to give an 
account within our limit, as they are numerous and con- 
stantly being multiplied. 

Owing to the perishable nature of the wood of the 
common apple-tree, its length of life is limited ; but in a 
few cases trees have been known to complete their sec- 
ond century. " One of these was growing near Plym- 
outh, in Massachusetts. Another in Hartford, Connec- 
ticut, was brought from England in 1645, and grew on 
the Charter-Oak Place, and consequently must be more 
than two hundred years old." 

The apple-tree under cultivation, in order to perfect 
its productiveness, requires a soil abounding in marls, 
marly clays, or calcareous limestone ; and will also, es- 
pecially those of the early sort, produce fruit to per- 
fection in light, rich, sandy soils. Late varieties succeed 
best when planted in a soil that is strong and clayey. 

A position sheltered from the extremes of heat and 
cold and the influence of high winds, with an undulating 
surface, is best adapted for apple-orchards, and it has 
been found that moderately steep declivities have been 
successful in the production of fruit. Deep-sunk valleys 
or very elevated or exposed situations are unfavorable 
to the production of the apple. A southerly direction is 
a most advantageous one, in view that the trees receive 
the greatest benefit from the sun, and yet are not fully 
exposed to its extreme influence ; and if the plantation 
or orchard be in the neighborhood of an extensive body 
of water, a position facing northward has proved to be 
decidedly favorable. 

The apple-tree is propagated from seed, grafting, and 
inoculation, and by cuttings and layers ; and it has been 
found that the hardiest and best stocks are those raised 
from the seed of the wild crab. 

In propagating from seed, the pomace should be 
strewed and covered with earth in shallow trenches 



204 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

about eighteen inches apart, so as to allow of the young 
plants being cultivated without disturbing them. In the 
fall thin out the most vigorous and healthy, and trans- 
plant in a well-manured soil, in rows eighteen inches 
apart and the same distance from each other, where 
they should be allowed to remain until the fourth year, 
when they will probably have acquired half an inch or 
more in diameter, and of sufficient growth to bear the 
operation of grafting or trimming back. During the 
growth of the plants for the second and third years no 
knife should be used, especially on those shoots which 
occur a foot or more from the ground, but the soil upon 
which they grow should be kept perfectly free from 
weeds and subjected to repeated hoeings. 



CHAPTER LV. 

THE GOLDEN ORANGE-TREE. 

Doubts of the Nativity of the Golden Orange-tree. — Its Believed Ori- 
gin. — Where Abounding in the United States, and by Whom Intro- 
duced.— Record of its Early Notice. — Its Attainable Height under 
Culture. — Its Majestic Bearing and Floral and Fruit Productiveness. 
— Its Many Varieties Variously Described and Qualified.— Soil and 
Climate Suited to its Thrift. — How Propagated. — Manner of Rais- 
ing from Cuttings. — Uses for which Principally Cultivated. — De- 
scription and Usefulness of its W T ood. — Its Greatest Enemy. 

Doubts exist as to the nativity of this tree, but it is 
believed to have been originally a native of the wanner 
parts of Asia, and to have been introduced into America 
about the period of the first settlements, where it has 
become acclimated to the warmer portions of the main- 
land, and to the tropical and temperate islands of its 
coast waters. It is found to exist in Florida, where, not 
only in plantations along the coast, but in the interior 
wilds, extensive groves are met with ; these trees, how- 
ever, are not considered of American origin, having, as 
is supposed, been introduced by the Spaniards at the 
time of their settlements in that country. 

" The first distinct notice of this fruit on record is by 
Avicenna, an Arabian physician, who flourished in the 
tenth century, and, according to Galesio, the Arabs, when 
they entered India, found the orange -trees there and 
brought them to Europe by two routes — the sweet ones 
through Persia to Syria and thence to the shores of Italy 
and the south of France, and the bitter ones by Arabia, 
Egypt, and the north of Africa to Spain and Portugal."* 

* Browne's "Trees of America," p. 61. 



206 TREES AND TEEE-PLANTING. 

It was also found indigenous to India and China on the 
Portuguese reaching these countries during their dis- 
coveries of the sixteenth century. 

The orange-tree, under favorable culture, attains to a 
height of from twenty-five to thirty feet ; it is of upright 
growth, and branches out with majestic luxuriance of 
foliage, forming a summit regularly symmetrical. Its 
leaves are of moderately large size, of a fine shiny-green 
color on top, and beautifully shaped. Its pleasing odor- 
ous flowers occur in small clusters on the branches, and 
are of the varieties of white tinged with pink. The 
bark of the trunk on old trees is of an ash-gray color, 
while that of the branches is of a soft green. The per- 
fect uniform straightness of its trunk, the regular distri- 
bution of its branches, and the great richness of its foli- 
age, flowers, and golden fruit give it a decided superiority 
of appearance and usefulness over other trees, and it is 
hardly possible to conceive or imagine an object more 
delightful, these qualities entitling it to be considered 
one of the most magnificent and beautiful productions 
of the vegetable kingdom. 

There are many varieties of the orange which are 
supposed to have been derived from the common spe- 
cies ; but whether from its natural habit to change, origi- 
nal differences of the stock, or from the diverse soil and 
climate from which they have been produced, it has not 
yet been determined. The following are the most im- 
portant varieties : 

Navel golden-fruited orange-tree is a native of the 
torrid zone, being chiefly cultivated in Brazil, where it 
flourishes in all its magnificence, and produces a fruit 
similar to the common orange, but slightly more oblong, 
of a most delicious and agreeable flavor, and yellowish, 
juicy pulp. Its fruit is distinguished by an excrescence 
which grows at the end opposite the stem, into which all 
disagreeable impurities are drawn, leaving its pulp in 
possession of all its pleasing qualities. 



THE GOLDEN ORANGE-TREE. 20 7 

To J. D. Browne belongs the honor of introducing 
this variety into the United States, he having brought 
several trees from Brazil in 1835, which were planted in 
Florida and are believed still to exist. 

The Chinese golden-fruited orange-tree is a much es- 
teemed variety, with ovate, oblong leaves, and smooth, 
round fruit. It is indigenous to France, Portugal, and 
Italy. 

Pear-shaped golden-fruited orange-tree. This is one 
of the most hardy trees of its kind, and is well worthy 
of cultivation. It produces a large, pear-shaped fruit, 
from which it derives its name. 

The blood-red-pulp golden-fruited orange-tree is distin- 
guished by the color of its fruit, which is reddish-yellow ; 
is of medium size, round and rough-skinned, and contains 
a pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. 

Sweet-skinned golden-fruited orange-tree. This is a 
much favored fruit-bearing variety. It produces fruit 
the pulp of which is of a deep-yellow color, sub-acid, 
soft and melting. 

Mandarin orange-tree. This tree is indigenous to 
China, and is cultivated for the superior quality of its 
fruit, which is of a deep orange color, sweet, soft-rinded, 
and possesses the peculiar characteristic of the pulp be- 
ing in a separated state from the rind, even allowing of 
the motion of the pulp within. 

Seedless golden-fruited orange-tree. Of all the varie- 
ties, this tree is considered the most productive. It bears 
a small, round, thin -rinded, seedless fruit with a deli- 
ciously sweet-flavored pulp. 

Bitter golden-fruited orange-tree. This tree is of 
stunted growth, spiny limbed, and subdivided into sev- 
eral varieties, among which are the horn-fruited, much 
esteemed for the delicious perfume of its flowers ; the 
female Bigarade, having the peculiar characteristic of 
producing a two-folded fruit, or, " orange within orange ;" 
the curled -leaved Bigarade, of stunted growth, w T ith 



208 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

small, blunt, curled leaves, clustered blossoms, and coarse 
fruit ; the double-flowered Bigarade, prized for the pro- 
duction of deliciously fragrant double flowers ; the bit- 
ter orange-tree, distinguished by its dark fruit, filled 
with bitter, sour pulp, and the myrtle-leaved Bigarade, 
suited for garden culture, owing to its showy floral and 
fruit productiveness. 

The orange-tree is cultivated in various soils, but 
flourishes best in a warm, fertile compost of sand and 
loam, with a prevailing atmosphere of 62° to 84° F. 
temperature. Upon the position and soil depend the 
thrift of the trees, and in order to insure this they should 
be sheltered from the disturbing influences of high or 
chilly winds ; so, also, a uniform salubrity of air con- 
duces to a deliciously rich flavoring of the fruit, while 
excessively heated temperature tends to enlarge its rind 
and impair the quality of its pulp. 

It is propagated by cuttings, layers, and grafting. 
As the plants raised from seed do not readily bear fruit 
or bloom, they are usually propagated to increase va- 
riety and supply grafting stocks. 

The manner of raising these trees from cuttings in 
England, as described by Browne in his " Trees of Amer- 
ica," is as follows : " Take the youngest shoots, and also 
a quantity of the two-year-old shoots ; these may be cut 
into lengths of from nine to eighteen inches. Take the 
leaves off the lower part of each cutting to the extent 
of about five inches, allowing the leaves above to re- 
main untouched; then cut right across, under an eye, 
and make a small incision in an angular direction on the 
bottom of the cutting. When the cuttings are thus pre- 
pared, take a pot and fill it with sand ; size the cuttings, 
so that the short ones may be all together, and those 
that are taller in a different pot. Then, with a small 
dibble, plant them about five inches deep in the sand, 
and give them a good watering from above, to settle the 
sand about them. Let them stand a day or two in a 



THE GOLDEN ORANGE-TREE. 209 

shady place, and if a frame be ready with bottom heat, 
plunge the pots to the brim. Shade them well with a 
double mat, which may remain till they have struck 
root ; when rooted, take the sand and cuttings out of 
the pot, and plant them into single pots, in the proper 
compost. Plunge the pots with the young plants again 
into a frame, and shade them for four or five weeks, or 
till they are taken out with the pots, when they may 
be gradually exposed to the light. From various ex- 
periments, Mr. Henderson, of Woodhall, England, found 
that pieces of two-year-old wood struck quite well ; and, 
therefore, in place of putting in cuttings six or eight 
inches long, he took off cuttings from ten inches to two 
feet long, and struck them with equal success. Although 
he at first began to put in cuttings only in the month 
of August, he afterwards put them in at any time of 
the year, except when the plants were making young 
wood. By giving them a gentle bottom heat, and cov- 
ering them with a hand-glass, they will generally strike 
root in seven weeks or two months." 

The uses for which orange-trees are cultivated are 
principally their fruit and showy appearance, and the 
agreeable pleasure derived from the grove when in bloom 
and fruit-laden. Its wood is hard, compact, of a yel- 
lowish color, slightly odorous, and capable of being pol- 
ished, and is chiefly used in making fancy articles, such 
as boxes, dressing-cases, etc. 

The tree, while growing, is subject to the attacks of 
an insect, or bark-louse. Many remedies have been tried 
to prevent its ravages, such as fumigating the trees, 
smearing them with lime, potash, sulphur, quicklime, 
salt, glue, etc., but all have proved ineffectual to arrest 
the action of this sly destroyer. 
9* 



CHAPTER LVL 

PROPAGATION OF TREES. 

Propagating.— Contrast of Theory and Practical Knowledge.— Meth- 
ods of Propagating.— Varieties from Original Species, How Pro- 
duced.— Seeding.— Time and Manner of Sowing, with Necessary- 
Considerations.— Preparation of the Soil.— Cuttings.— What they 
Are.— When, Where, and What to Select.— Period of Longevity, 
How Ascertained.— Cause of Decay in Cuttings.— Characteristics of 
their Growth.— How Set Out.— Evergreens.— When Propagated 
from Cuttings. —Necessary Precautions. — Layering. — Origin of 
Method. — Governing Laws of Growth in Layers. — Methods of 
Layering Described.— Budding.— Inserted and Annular Budding, 
How Performed.— Object of the Methods.— Seasonable Time for 
Operating.— Grafting.— The Splice, Saddle, and Cleft Modes Sepa- 
rately Explained.— Pruning.— The Object of Pruning and the Ben- 
efits Effected Thereby. 

PROPAGATING. 

The methods of propagating the several varieties of 
trees require close attention, and they are in themselves 
of such importance to the grower that to acquire an ac- 
curate knowledge of the art mere theory will not suffice, 
but a thoroughly practical application of patience and per- 
severance will only succeed in dealing with their many 
delicacies and afford a successful issue of the undertaking. 

Season, perfected condition of the bud or graft, posi- 
tion as to shelter and influence of the sun, quality of 
seed, fitness of soil to variety, and many other consid- 
erations have to be reviewed, the determining of which 
is of the utmost importance in the production of a suc- 
cessful growth. 

The methods of propagating, when it becomes neces- 
sary to preserve or increase an original species, or vary 



PROPAGATION OF TREES. 211 

another variety, either for ornament or other purpose, 
demand distinct treatment. Variations from original 
species are also sometimes produced by the transfer of a 
plant from its primitive soil and climate to one of great- 
er or less richness and intensity ; and when this change 
is so effective as to produce its natural dissolution, it 
then becomes necessary to convey the reconstructive 
members in part from a tree of the same variety, and by 
gradual insertion or inoculation of them produce or re- 
construct it to its natural perfection. Variations of spe- 
cies produced by such transfers are sometimes an im- 
provement upon the original, producing, as they often 
do, pleasing variety of color and form of foliage which 
contribute largely to the genera of reserved growths. 
Whenever these varied species present quality and merit 
to warrant their reservation either for exceptional orna- 
ment or productiveness, they should be closely attended 
to ; and, when being removed from the seed-bed, ought 
to be so planted as to be conveniently superintended, when 
every characteristic of their growth and appearance 
should be noted so as to supply detail of their merit and 
worthiness. From such varieties, or " sports," our many 
cultivated fruit-trees and flowering-shrubs have been ob- 
tained ; produced as they have been by the breaking-up 
of the natural habit of the original wild genera, they 
afford variety of color and foliage highly pleasing and 
ornamental. These valuable additions should on no ac- 
count be lost sight of, but increased, as there is a likeli- 
hood of the original tree or shrub being lost by the 
course of nature or by accident ; and for this purpose 
propagating by layering, budding, and grafting is most 
usually resorted to. 

SEEDING. 

Raising trees from seed requires more care and atten- 
tion than persons unacquainted with their growth are 
inclined to consider. The leading thought of inexperi- 
ence is that nature supplies every want for the nourish- 



212 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

ment and thrift of plants ; and that all that is necessary 
for their production is to procure and sow the seed, and the 
earth will of itself, without further trouble, bring forth 
its increase. Practice and experience point to a further 
necessity, and convince us that this is not so ; but that 
in the preparation of the soil, sowing of seed, after-cult- 
ure, and protective measures against the influence of cli- 
mate the tree-grower will find sufficient for his partici- 
pation to keep him from idleness and inconsiderate con- 
clusions. 

The time for sowing the seed of the different species 
of trees varies so considerably that no decided informa- 
tion on this subject can be given for the collective gen- 
era. Seeds of different species, or even varieties of the 
same species, differ in vitality so widely that, to deter- 
mine the time of the seasonable sowing of each sepa- 
rately, experience alone will teach ; yet the vitality in 
seed of some species may be prolonged by due regard to 
the conditions of treatment, while that in others will sel- 
dom exist after the first season. Therefore, to accom- 
modate the vital spark in seed of all species, the most 
favorable time of sowing is immediately after the gath- 
ering in, precaution being, of course, taken in the mean- 
time for their preservation against influences of climate. 
The ground to be sown should be ploughed deep and 
thoroughly pulverized by a number of harro wings and 
rakings previous to sowing the seed, and, if not naturally 
rich, should be made so by an addition of some of the 
many manures in general use, such as old barn-yard, leaf- 
mould, rotted sods, bone-dust, or ashes. The seed soil 
being thus far prepared, shallow trenches of about one 
foot wide and at two to four feet intervals, according to 
the intended manner of cultivating, are to be run, and in 
these the seeds should be strewn at about two inches 
distance between each (to allow for the thrift of the 
young sprouts), and covered over evenly with soil to the 
depth of from one to two inches. All that is now re- 



PROPAGATION OF TREES. 213 

quired for the production of healthy growth is to keep 
the weeds under, and the soil loose between the trenches 
with cultivator or spading-f ork, and prevent the appear- 
ance of obnoxious growths among the young plants. 

Some varieties of plants require shading from the sun 
and protection from the first winter's frost, and for this 
reason are sown in beds about four feet square, so as con- 
veniently to allow the construction of a frame to ward off 
any injurious influences which might naturally be brought 
to bear against the thrift of the young seedlings. The 
soil in these frames should be composted to the same de- 
gree of fineness and richness as that required in trench- 
seeding in the open ground; but this will depend en- 
tirely upon the variety which it is intended to nourish. 
No general rule can be applied, either for protection or 
richness of soil, as each separate species of tree has its 
own peculiarities in these respects, and thrives only 
when afforded a sufficiency of soil and climate according 
to its natural habit. 

The seed may be sown broadcast in these beds, and 
covered lightly with fine leaf-mould, after which the 
frame may be constructed about them, consisting of 
boards a foot or more in width, placed round the edges 
of the bed and covered by a lath screen or coarse mat- 
ting. The lath screen is considered the most convenient 
covering, as it admits the genial warmth of the sun to 
the plants without exposing them to its full influence. 

CUTTINGS. 

Propagating from cuttings is the mode employed in 
the production of certain species of trees, and when seed 
of other kinds cannot be readily obtained cuttings are 
used in their production. Though cuttings of some spe- 
cies of trees take a longer time to produce or emit roots 
than others, yet all kinds may be so propagated if al- 
lowed sufficient time for the formation of their roots. 
The root-producing substance, alburnum, or sap, partakes 



214 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

of the nature, in productive thrift, of the growth of 
which it is the life-blood ; so it may be inferred that, 
according as the growth of the species is rapid or tardy, 
the period of perfecting of the roots may be determined. 

Cuttings are detached branches or ends of branches 
of trees, usually from six to twelve inches in length, and 
are selected from shoots of the latest growth, though, 
in this case, if the tree is of considerable size and age, 
it will be necessary to select from the latest and lower 
shoots, and not from the main stem or first branches, as 
it has been decided that these latter participate in the 
age of the tree, while the later shoots bear age only from 
their year's origin ; therefore this consideration is impor- 
tant as fixing the period of longevity of species propa- 
gated by cuttings. This peculiar characteristic may be 
accounted for from the fact of the yearly formation of 
sap-wood producing shoots which exist and thrive as part 
of itself, having birth as it were together, and increas- 
ing in size and strength proportionately with the natu- 
ral transformation of sap-wood to wood of compressed 
texture. 

Cuttings of deciduous trees should be selected in the 
fall, and chosen from those limbs which are of apparent 
healthy vigor, tied in bundles and stored away till the 
following spring. The most convenient and safe way 
of preserving them during winter is by a covering of 
earth or other substance of sufficient depth to be out of 
the reach of frost. They should be cut smooth and 
square through the stem, and immediately under a bud, 
as this operation, when performed with nicety — care be- 
ing taken not to crush the cutting in any of its parts — 
will facilitate the early production of the root, and pre- 
vent a hasty decay of the inserted end. There is an ob- 
jection to the " slant cut," especially for cutting of trees 
or shrubs having a pith, as in them the absorption of 
water is great, and consequently the decay of the lower 
part of the cutting hastened. 



PROPAGATION OF TREES. 215 

When planted in the open ground, cuttings should be 
so placed uprightly to nearly their full length that only 
an inch or two of their tops will be visible above ground. 
They are usually planted in rows of two to four feet 
interval, and two to four inches between plants in the 
length of the row ; but the distance between plants will 
chiefly depend upon the object for which they are beino* 
raised. 

Evergreens, being of a more tender nature than decid- 
uous trees, require greater attention for their successful 
production, and are chiefly grown from seed, except when 
it becomes necessary to multiply or preserve a particu- 
lar species or variety of species, in which instance they 
are propagated from cuttings or layers. They all, or 
nearly all, require artificial heat for their production, 
and for this reason are usually raised in hot-beds. 

In the instance of cuttings of evergreens being placed 
under frame after selection in the fall, the debarring of 
the heating influence of the sun from them by shade be- 
comes a necessity, so as to prevent an unseasonable or 
untimely growth of leaf, and allow for the prior devel- 
opment of the roots. This is owing to the decreased 
temperature requisite for the production of the root as 
compared with the warmth necessary for the growth of 
leaves. 

The cuttings of evergreens are usually placed in rows, 
at six inches apart, and the soil firmly pressed about 
them to about one half their length, which is generally 
from two to three inches. 

LAYERING. 

The method of layering has been obtained by observa- 
tion of nature's growth, and has been established upon 
the fact of reproduction by the emission of roots from 
branches inserted in earth, under the same law which 
governs the growth of cuttings ; though in layering, as 
in cuttings, the sap, which is the principle of growth in 



216 



TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



both, is not entirely restricted or cut off in its flow, but 
allowed a passage and continued supply till the produc- 
tion of roots, by the fact of its being necessarily kept in 
connection with its parent stem. The seasonable flow of 
sap which is drawn up by the roots of trees for the nour- 
ishment and growth of their stems and branches diffuses 
itself throughout, when, having performed its offices, it 
returns through the inner bark and deposits a thin layer 
of sap-wood or alburnum : so it may be conceived that 
the branches and roots are composed alike of this sub- 
stance. 

In layering, a branch may be chosen at a convenient 
height from the ground, and, if not of such convenience, 
bent till brought in contact with the ground, as shown 
below, where it is to be inserted, or covered over with 











earth, and kept in position by means of a forked peg. 
Previous to insertion or covering over of the bent branch 
or layer an incision is commonly made in the lower 



PROPAGATION OF TREES. 



217 



side, generally of half the depth of the branch, and a slit 
run in the direction of the extremity of the limb of 
about the same length as the incision is in depth, or of 
such length as to allow of the easy upward turning of 
the layer, which is then to be doubly pinioned by an ad- 
ditional peg, driven so as to keep the limb in an upright 
position, to which it is to be lashed by means of bark 
bands, or other convenient material, so as to prevent its 
being disturbed by wind or other cause. When the 
growth of the limb or branch which it is intended to lay- 
er is not within easy bending distance of the ground, re- 
course is had to a contrivance which conveys the soil to 
the requisite height, so as conveniently to insert the 
branch at a particular point, and it grows naturally. 
For this purpose most generally an earthenware pot or 
wooden box is used, which 
is so made as to allow of a 
division of about two inch- 
es to the extent of half its 
breadth or diameter, and" 
to its full height, for the 
easy insertion of the branch 
to its centre. On the branch 
being thus inserted, and the 
division closed by a piece 
of lath sufficiently wide to 
cover the opening or slit at 
the bottom and side, the 
pot is filled with earth, and 
so allowed to remain till 
the roots have formed upon 
the layer. It is, however, 
necessary that the outside of the pot or box be protected 
from the drying influence of the sun and wind, as too 
sudden or excessive evaporation necessitates frequent 
watering and, consequently, extra labor. 

The most fitting season for layering deciduous trees 
10 




218 TREES AND TREE-PL ANTING. 

is in the spring when the leaves have just put forth, so 
as to take full advantage of the entire season's growth, 
for the perfecting of the roots previous to separating the 
branch from the parent stock in the following fall. The 
operation, however, should not be delayed longer than 
midsummer, unless it be intended that the layer should 
have the second season for perfecting its root, which 
is sometimes necessary in the case of some evergreens 
and deciduous trees tardy in emitting roots. 

BUDDING. 

Budding is performed by the transfer of a bud of one 
tree to the stem or branch of another, generally mem- 
bers of the same genus ; though in some species excep- 
tions exist which do not allow of this assimilated connec- 
tion. The object of budding is to convey the natural 
qualities of one variety to those of another, either to pro- 
duce ornamental difference or to multiply productive 
species, and also to supply deficiencies of limbs in trees 
naturally of sparse growth. As in layering to produce 
roots, so in budding, alburnumous substance or sap forms 
the union between the bud and stock. The operation 
is usually performed in summer, on the development of 
the buds of the same season's growth ; and as it is required 
that the bark shall part easily from the wood, both the 

stock and bud should be of equal 
advancement in the growth of the 
season. The sap at this season be- 
ing in a semi-fluid state, by the ac- 
tion of its natural properties de- 
taches, though little, the bark from 
the wood, and allows of its being 
easily raised for the insertion of 
the portion of bark attached to 
the bud. The operation of strik- 
ing out a bud is performed by the 
insertion of a knife about an inch 




PROPAGATION OF TKEES. 219 

below the bud, and a cut run to the depth of the bark 
upward, and curved to about one half inch above it, as 
shown in the figure on preceding page. This slice, with 
a thin layer of sap-wood adhering, is then carefully de- 
tached from the tree, when the bud will be ready for 
transfer to the stock. The stock, which should not ex- 
ceed an inch in diameter, whether as seedling or branch, 
is previously prepared for the reception of the bud by] 
making a cut downward and across it to the depth of 
the bark, and of an inch or so in length in the form of 
a T, as seen in this figure. The por- 
tion of the bark containing the bud is 
then inserted in this T-shaped slit, the 
edges of which are to be slightly raised 
to receive it in such a position that the 
uppermost portion of the bark contain- 
ing the bud will fit exactly with the 
head of the T cut in the stock, so as 
to admit of the free downward pas- 
sage of the sap, which forms its anneal- 
ing substance. The bud, after inser- ^ 
tion as above described, is to be bound 
securely in its place by means of a bandage of woollen 
yarn, scutched flax, bark bands, or other material. In 
this state it is allowed to remain for three or four weeks, 
or until it has united firmly with the stock, when the 
bandage may be removed. As the season of growth will 
be nearly over by the time the operation has reached this 
stage of perfection, the bud need not be expected to push 
fully into growth till the following spring, though signs 
of its vitality are often perceptible at an earlier period. 
Every effort should now be made to nourish its growth, 
and for this reason all sources of waste of nutritious sub- 
stances should be cut off, such as suckers or sprouts and 
any superfluous height of stock. 

Another mode, called the annular budding method, 
is recommended for its excellence in propagating some 




220 



TEEES AND TPwEE-PLANTING. 



forest-trees. It differs from 
the foregoing by the fitting 
of the bud to the stock in- 
stead of inserting it under 
the bark ; and has the advan- 
tage of being successfully per- 
formed in the early spring, or 
as soon as the bark can be 
detached from the tree. The 
bud is separated from its tree 
by a circular cut, extending 
completely round the stem 
or branch, and a similar dis- 
placement of bark, of the 
same circuit and height, is 
made in the stock so as to 
admit of the bud and its ap- 
pended parts fitting exactly 
into it. This necessitates that 
the size of the branch from 
which the bud is taken and that of the stock to which it 
is to be affixed be equal, or nearly so. A similar treat- 
ment is required for this as for the method of inserted 
buds ; but the result of the season's growth will be more 
apparent in this than in the latter, owing to the advan- 
tage derived from the more extended time for its union 
with the stock. 

GRAFTING. 

The grafting methods have been long practised and 
are at present the most commonly used in propagating 
trees, especially fruit-bearing varieties. Though of old 
origin, yet they would seem to be not generally under- 
stood. They are, however, a necessary acquirement for 
persons interested in the production of variety, or in the 
preserving of a particular species. 

There are three modes in common practice at present, 
the splice, cleft, and saddle graft, each approved and 
advocated upon its own particular merits. 




*w 



v-^ 



PEOPAGATION OF TEEES. 



221 



The most preferable season for performing the opera- 
tion is in spring, just as the buds begin to swell, and 
when the sap is in brisk motion, both for evergreens and 
deciduous trees. The selection of the scions should take 
place in the previous autumn, when the tree from which 
they are to be taken is in leaf, so as to insure the pos- 
session of the most vigorous shoots. These should be 
chosen from branches most exposed to the sun, and may 
consist of the last summer's growth, or, which is still 
more preferable, might be selected from among any 
shoots which may have sprung from the lower portion 
of the tree-stem. They are usually cut in lengths of 
three or four inches, so as to leave from three to five 
buds for the production of new shoots, and may be from 
one fourth to one inch in diameter, though they may be 
larger or smaller according to requirements. In all cases 
they should be as nearly as possible on 
an equality of size with the stock or 
branch into which they are to be graft- 
ed, so as to admit of the bark of both 
being exactly united, and to facilitate 
the flow of sap which forms the ce- 
menting substance between them. 

The operation of splice -grafting is 
usually performed on seedlings, and 
when the scions are of about one half 
inch diameter, and consists of the stock 
being cut in an upward oblique direc- 
tion, and the scion in a similar manner, 
so as to have the connection of these 
members as exact as possible. This 
being completed, the scion (a), or graft, 
is to be so fitted as to bring both or 
one of its barked edges in exact junc- 
tion with the bark of the stock (J), 
w r here it is to be bound immovably 




with the most soft, tensive lashing at 



M. 



-»Vi 



222 



TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 



hand ; after which, to exclude air and rain, around the 
outside, to above and below the points of union of the 
stock and scion, should be smeared grafting-wax or other 
compost. 

In saddle-grafting the stock (a) is cut so as to bring 

its head to the form of a wedge, 
and the scion (h) at its lower end 
is similarly treated by being cut 
to the same angle, though in a 



reversed direction, so as to ad- 
mit of its being placed upon the 
stock with its bark in exact con- 
tact with that of the stock. This 
method is employed when the 
scion is of moderate size. The 
necessary precaution of binding 
and protecting the graft is the 
same in this as in the foregoing. 
Cleft-grafting is the simplest 
and easiest of execution, and a 

mode which is principally employed when the stock ex- 
ceeds the graft in size. In the case of a seedling being 

the stock upon which to graft, it is cut A & 

square across, at the height of two or 

more feet from the surface of the 

ground, and a cleft made in its head 

into which a scion or graft (b), formed 

to the shape of a wedge of one or two 

inches in length, is inserted. The 

same operation of cutting back is also 

necessary on a branch being used as 

stock, but in both instances, if it is 

possible, the seedling or branch might 

be so accommodatingly cut as to bring 

the breadth of the graft and the width 

of the stock-head of equal dimensions, 

that the inside of the bark of each on **^ L i '^lj? 




PROPAGATION OF TREES. 223 

both sides meets the other ; but when this union of the 
two edges cannot be conveniently made, then it is usual 
that two scions be inserted so as to perfect the juncture. 
It is not, however, advisable that more than one of the two 
remain, in case they both have united. The most healthy 
is generally retained, the other being sawed off close to 
the stock. The cleft in the stock being sufficient in itself 
to retain the graft firmly in its place, no other protective 
measures need be employed other than those necessary 
to exclude the air, protect exposed portions of the wood 
from the action of moisture, and the graft and stock from 
the encroachments of motive agencies. Of the many com- 
posites in use for grafting- wax, the following is given 
and recommended by Andrew S. Fuller, in his work on 
"Forest-Tree Culture:" The ingredients are beeswax 
resin, and tallow, in the following proportions : One 
pound of tallow, two pounds of beeswax, and four 
pounds of resin melted together. If to be used in cool 
weather, a little more tallow may be added. 

In splice and saddle grafting, if successful, the union 
of the graft with the stock will be accomplished at the 
end of the fourth month, about which time also the 
bandage may be loosened, so as to admit the air gradu- 
ally, or until the scion has become accustomed to the 
change, when it may be entirely withdrawn. 

PRUNING. 

The benefit of pruning forest-trees is more lightly 
thought of than it deserves. Upon this operation de- 
pends the healthy thrift of all members of the growth 
acted on, as well as its future deportment and usefulness. 

To prune a tree so as to serve the purpose for which 
it is wanted, observation of its natural habit will soon 
teach the planter how much or how little is required to 
be cut away. Care, however, is necessary that it be not 
pruned to such an extent as to weaken or check its 
growth, nor should the whole of the branches prunable 



224 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

be cut off at once, as some, which it is ultimately requisite 
to trim away, may at that particular stage of growth 
be beneficial to the tree of which they are members. 

Again, it may be observed that there are many cases 
of failure from not pruning enough ; so between these 
two questions the considerations of the planter must 
take a moderate tendency, in conformity, of course, with 
his own observations, in connection with the natural 
habit of the tree he is to practise on, and the purpose 
for which his exertions are designed. 

The great object of pruning is to obtain a straight 
stem, regular outline of tree, and equalize the members 
necessary to support its thrift. For the first of these 
requirements it is usual to begin training while the tree 
is young, and for this reason the nursery is the place 
best suited to start from, as the limbs of the trees in 
their infancy are smaller and their tendency more easily 
observable then than if left till of greater maturity; 
besides, the wounds formed by the separation of young 
branches from their parent stem will not be so large as 
to require any serious attention. 

The shade necessary for the protection of the tree- 
stem from the drying influences of the sun makes it nec- 
essary that the lower branches of young trees, especially 
if growing in open ground, be preserved for the pur- 
pose to which they are best suited ; generally trees so 
situated require at least two thirds of their height as a 
source of shade to their stems, and for the production of 
that vital property naturally possessed by the leaves so 
indispensable to growth. But when trees are grown col- 
lectively, and for the production of timber, so that in- 
dividually they shade each other, then they can be con- 
veniently pruned to two thirds of their height, allowing 
only the remaining one third as a requisite shade. 

The most suitable time for the pruning of trees is in 
midsummer, when the leaves are in full bloom and the 
sap in a state of quietude. They may also be pruned 



PROPAGATION OF TREES. 225 

at the commencement of winter, as at this season any 
wounds formed will readily heal, owing to the influen- 
ces of climate brought to bear upon the exposed parts. 
Some species, however, owing to the sparseness of sap- 
circulation in their systems, may be pruned at any time 
without injury; but the great desideratum in all in- 
stances is to effect the operation without having any 
cause to fear the result. 

In pruning large trees, when the wounds are of con- 
siderable size, it is requisite that they be protected from 
the decomposing influence of moisture by applying a 
thin coat of common grafting-wax to the exposed wood ; 
or varnishing the parts with a preparation of gum-shel- 
lac dissolved in alcohol will fill and dry the pores of the 
wound and exclude any injurious agencies. 

The pruning of evergreens is not so generally neces- 
sary as for deciduous trees, the object to be obtained in 
the cultivation of them being so different that only the 
matter of taste will serve as a guide. Their principal uses 
being ornament and shelter, these requirements necessi- 
tate but little work for the knife, as for such purposes 
the trees are more beneficial and attractive when al- 
lowed to retain their natural fantastic diversity. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

ON PLANTING. 

What to Plant. — Preparation of the Soil. — Influence of Soil, Situa- 
tion, and Climate on Certain Species. — Dr. John A. Warden's 
Facts in Connection with Tree-planting. — Congenial Soil of Spe- 
cies. — On Natural and Artificial Grouping. — Dispersion of Spe- 
cies, to What Due. — Base of Successful Forestry. — Combined Spe- 
cies and Obnoxious Exceptions. — On Planting for Shelter-hedge or 
Screen. — Species Adapted to each Purpose. — On Planting Hill- 
sides. — A Philosophical Suggestion. — The Notching or Pitting 
Process for the Production of Stock Plants. — Separated Existence 
of Certain Species, and Care Necessary to their Successful Produc- 
tion. — Nurses. — What they Are. — Uses for which Designed. — Spe- 
cies most Easily Produced or Obtained. — Manner of Planting, and 
their Utility. — Nurses in Use for Specified Species. — Nurses as a 
Source of Profit. — On Close Planting and its Resulting Economy. 
— Rapidity of Growth of Hardy Trees. — Transplanting Seedlings. 
— Transplanting Trees of Large Size. 

When, what, and how to plant is a question which 
many desire to have answered. 

" When to plant, though an important question, needs 
not much consideration. Plant when you get ready, 
fall or spring ; but be sure to have the soil ready for the 
reception of your trees before bringing them on the 
ground ; let it be dry enough to crumble ; never plant 
when it is wet and clammy. 

" The ground should be as well prepared as for a tillage 
crop, and where at all possible to plough the land, do it 
as a valuable preparation, because of the advantage it 
gives to the young plants that are to be introduced. 

" Another point in having the land well prepared is 
the great advantage of being able to set treble the num.- 



ON PLANTING. 227 

ber of trees, to say nothing of the great desideratum of 
more rapid growth as a result of the cultivation they 
receive, and the sooner, as a consequence, they may be 
left to themselves. 

" Soils of different localities seem to exercise an im- 
portant influence in deciding the thrift of certain species 
of trees. The amount of moisture in the soil will often 
prove more favorable to one species than to another; 
more elevation and exposure may be congenial to one 
species and adverse to others." 

Dr. John A. Warder, to whom we are indebted for 
many instructive facts in connection with tree-planting, 
writes : 

" In our northern regions we find the American larch 
and the arbor-vitas occupy together very often the low, 
mucky soils of flats and ponds ; near them the hemlock 
covers broad flats of low and wet land, with elms and 
black ash, red maples, and other trees of water-loving 
character. Here, in the higher latitudes, we may expect 
to find the native spruces and balsams, while at greater 
elevations, and even on rocky points, with the least 
moisture and soil, the junipers thrive, and on the thin, 
sandy lands large areas will be covered with the gray 
pine on the eastern mountains, while near it, on the 
sandy flats, the white pine forms our valuable forests, 
with the red pine grouped together on its favorite local- 
ities to the eastward. So with the hard-wooded, decid- 
uous trees, each has its favorite locality, wiiere it seems 
best to thrive, though in many places several species 
may have similar habitats, with the result of a mixed 
forest. Thus we often find the sugar maples, white ash, 
hackberry, and some oaks and elms, with wild cherry 
and tulip trees, grouped together. Again, on more 
clayey lands, are the white oak and beech more preva- 
lent, and in wet flats the swamp oaks and sweet gums 
constitute the leading species." 

The red and black oaks will be found most abun- 



228 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

dant on the more sanely soils, and the post, black-jack, 
and laurel -leaved oaks have their favorite localit}^ on 
formations of finely siliceous soils. In middle latitudes 
and northward, on rich lands, the burr oak will prevail. 
The white elm yields its finest results on humid lands, 
while the red elm prefers a drier and more porous but 
rich soil. The walnut is found in its grandest propor- 
tions only on the richest river alluvions, but the butternut 
finds its congenial home among the rocks of the north- 
ern valleys. The shellbark hickory prefers clay flats ; 
the pecan, rich river alluvions ; while the large shellbark, 
with the pignut, are most abundant on fertile, rolling 
uplands. Of these great classes, we observe that nature 
usually groups certain species more or less exclusively 
together. " In one region, or on one area, there are pines, 
chiefly of single species ; in another tract the spruces 
or the firs will prevail ; and so, too, among the broad- 
leaved trees, made up of many genera and species, and 
apparently mingled rather promiscuously together, the 
willows and poplars will be more or less grouped by 
themselves; the oaks will prevail here, the maples and 
ash there, and the magnolias will prevail on one side. 
The various species of trees seem to have their prefer- 
ence for this or that locality, and appear more or less 
abundantly in this or that position. Independently of 
these results, that seem traceable to the influence of 
soils and elevation, in connection with latitude, the nat- 
ural grouping of species, either separately or combined, 
must often depend upon accidental circumstances. Wil- 
lows and cotton-woods shed their numerous light seeds 
at a season when they are floated upon the swollen wa- 
ters of our streams, and as the floods subside they are 
stranded upon the emerging sand-bars, where they find 
a favorable soil, and burst into growth in immense num- 
bers of a single species. The burned pine forests of 
mountain regions receive the seeds of the aspens that 
are often sown over wide tracts in the same way ; and 



ON PLANTING. 229 

in clearing of forest-lands the neglected elms furnish in- 
numerable seeds that reproduce an abundant succession 
of verdure among the stumps of other trees. There are 
also a great number of self-sown plants of other species 
from previous years' seeding that may have been kept 
in abeyance for a greater or less period by the original 
forest, which now, opened to the air and light, will enter 
the struggle for life and contest the ground inch by inch 
with the new seedlings. Hence the mixed character of 
the second growth of trees, and the ultimate result gen- 
erally shows which were the fittest and hardiest. Those 
of most vigorous, thrifty growth, and notably those with 
broadest foliage, usually prevail by overshadowing those 
of more tardy progress. It should also always be borne 
in mind that some trees are obnoxious to the healthful 
growth of some others, and perhaps this is nowhere 
more apparent than in the case of broad-leaved trees, 
and those with needle-shaped leaves, commonly known 
as evergreens. The overshadowing by the former is de- 
structive of the latter. Successful forestry is based upon 
their separate planting ; or, if placed in the same sub- 
division of the forest, either for the effect of contrast or 
because of peculiar adaptation to the soil, each should 
be massed by itself as much as possible — evergreens with 
evergreens, and deciduous trees with those of their own 
class ; and in both cases those which are not obnoxious 
to one another. Observe in combinations of species which 
of them have a similar or an unequal rate of growth in 
their infancy, so that the stalwarts shall not smother 
'the weaklings that may be most valuable and desirable 
in the end. These are important considerations that 
will require a knowledge of the character of each, and, 
as this may not always be possessed by the tree-planter, 
he will be required to exercise constant watchfulness 
and observation of their behavior. 

" In planting for shelter use any or some of the many 
trees at your command, and plant them where they will 



230 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

produce the desired protection. For field wind-breaks 
the leafless trees have much value, and their judicious 
disposition will greatly check the cutting storms. When 
we come to select plants best suited to the protection of 
our own homes and their surroundings we find abundant 
material from which to make a choice. For trees and 
for tall screens the favorite with many is the Norway 
spruce, which grows rapidly, is easily transplanted and 
managed, and presents a welcome tint of green that is 
always persistent and full. The other spruces are also 
desirable, particularly the white and black, as they bear 
the knife and shears very well, and may easily be kept 
within due bounds when used as hedges for shelter. The 
majority of wind-breaks planted in the prairies are com- 
posed of deciduous trees, and are usually of the com- 
monest species, such as the cotton-woods, box-elder, soft 
maples, etc. — any tree of rapid growth or that can be 
most cheaply procured. This practice, however, need 
not prevent the use of hard -wood and other trees in 
making shelters ; but, in instances, impatience may pre- 
vail over judgment as to the more valuable species, and 
induce the use of trees of rapid growth to insure a speedy 
result. The native hemlock is particularly commended 
as a lawn tree standing alone, but it is also one of the 
very best species for forming a screen or shelter-hedge, 
as it may be clipped to a perfect plane, and, where nec- 
essary, can be confined to narrow limits. 

" The common red cedar, called the ' poor man's ever- 
green,' on account of its cheapness and the facility with 
which it may be produced in all parts of this country, 
as well as the certainty and rapidity of its growth, is a 
most useful and valuable plant for the farmer. Though 
not of so fine a color as some others, this tree makes a 
dense foliage when set as a shelter-belt and wind-break. 
It also makes a close hedge, and might be used to ad- 
vantage as a screen and as a protective hedge for gar- 
dens and about hot-beds. 



ON PLANTING. 231 

" Whether a selection be made from the so-callecl cheap 
trees, such as white willows, cotton-woods, soft maples, 
or noble oaks, hard maples, white ash, the elms, wild 
cherry, walnut, or hardy evergreens be chosen, we do 
not recommend neglect in planting these invaluable aids 
to good farming. 

" A strip of one rod in width will be needed if it is pro- 
posed to plant but a single row, and several rods wide 
must be prepared if it be designed to plant a good wind- 
break of many rows, which is the better plan. 

" After harrowing the ground, a furrow is struck for 
every row of trees, and these furrows may be four 
feet apart, for then the plants may be set every four 
feet. This requires very little labor unless large trees 
are selected, and if these be large evergreens they need 
not be so close, but more care will be required in plant- 
ing. 

" The young trees, when planted with reasonable care 
and well fixed in the soil by pressure of the foot, will be 
sure to grow ; but so will the weeds, and the plantation 
must be cultivated for about two seasons, so as to keep 
down all intruders. With this treatment their growth 
is greatly enhanced and they will the sooner shade the 
ground, when they will suppress the weeds and take care 
of themselves. 

" In planting in situations where there are steep de- 
clivities, rocky protruding ledges, or other obstructions, 
it is the part of good philosophy to embrace and make 
the most of the conditions which happen to surround us. 
In all such restricted situations, as in similar difficulties 
everywhere, let us not be discouraged, but adopt the 
more expensive and less promising plans. 

" In such cases, the planting is done by ' notching,' for 
small nursery trees, that are inserted into the slit made 
with a heavy planting-spade, and made firm by the same 
instrument or with the foot. 

" With larger trees, the plan of ' pitting ' is pursued, 



232 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

opening holes a foot or more in diameter, into which 
separate trees are inserted. 

" Where not supplied Avith stock for the production of 
desirable forest-trees, have furrows ploughed at close in- 
tervals, as guides to the planter of seeds or of little 
trees, and to facilitate cultivation by hand, to subor- 
dinate such weeds and other undesirable growths as 
migrit interfere with the trees that are intended to con- 
stitute the crop. Planted or sown in such a manner, 
the growth of the plants will not be so rapid as when 
well cultivated. 

" In open woods, and in accidental vacancies, the ' notch- 
ing' process, for the production of young oaks, ashes, 
and other species, has been extensively practised, and 
with good results. 

" The catalpa, white ash, black walnut, black cherry, 
and other valuable species will grow well enough on their 
congenial soils when once well established, even with- 
out the thorough preparation needed for arable lands, 
but they must be planted thickly, either alone or with 
nurses, and they must be kept free from the intrusion 
of weeds until they completely shade the surface, even 
if this requires double the number of years usually 
found necessary on the more level plantations. With 
nurses, the free use of low-growing bushes would be ad- 
visable. 

" Of this character, even the common elder and sumac 
bushes would be very desirable nurse-plants, as they are 
readily produced by inserting bits of roots into the spade- 
notches, and because, when shaded by the growing trees, 
they will gradually be smothered and disappear, after 
having for a few years pretty effectually shaded the sur- 
face of the ground and yielded some profit as a subsidi- 
ary crop of berries and leaves. 

" The planter is particularly enjoined to beware of the 
effects of rank, coarse-growing, annual weeds, and also 
of the blue-grass of rich soils." 



ON PLANTING. 233 



NURSES. 

" Nurses are surplus trees or shrubs introduced into the 
plantation for a temporary purpose, for the occupancy 
of the ground, to shelter and protect the permanent 
plants that are designed to constitute the future forest, 
and to aid in forming them into well-shaped trees as 
well as for their use as subsidiary products. 

" The trees, shrubs, or bushes selected for use as nurses 
should not so greatly exceed in size and vigor the perma- 
nent trees as to endanger the growth of the plants de- 
signed for the future forest; they need to be looked 
after lest they crowd and injure those trees which are 
to form the permanent stock. This is especially neces- 
sary if they be free-growing — such as many of the kinds 
grown in this country. Hence, for the purpose of nurses, 
we should select trees which are of the second class in 
respect to size. Of the many in use as nurses to differ- 
ent species of trees, the cotton-wood, box-elder, hack- 
berry, white maple, elmg, green ash, and white willow 
are the most easily obtained or produced, and in cases 
where the first cost of the young trees is small, the nurse- 
plants may consist of supernumeraries of the species 
planted. 

" Shrubs may be utilized as nurses if set in alternate 
rows and cultivated with the trees, and may be brought 
into requisition as a source of profit in use as wattles for 
temporary fences, as osiers, hoops, hurdles, and hazels or 
filberts, for their nuts. Wherever labor could be con- 
trolled for the cutting and preparation of the crop of 
herbage, so useful now for tanning, the sumac would 
promise a valuable return. Many of the smaller-grow- 
ing osier willows might be planted in the same way, 
with prospect of yielding good returns. They may all 
be grown from cuttings, that should be planted at the 
same time as the trees — the latter, being put into rows 
eight feet apart, could have a double row of the willows 
10* 



234 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

set between them. Eighteen inches wide would be suf- 
ficient for the willows, with spaces of three feet three 
inches on either side between them and the permanent 
trees. This plan would be particularly applicable to 
plantations of some of our oaks and hickories, which are 
usually slow in their growth. 

" It is recommended in planting the black walnut, that 
instead of an entire block of this species, which is uncer- 
tain in its results, every fifth row be planted with nuts, 
while the four intervening rows on either side be set 
with any of the common kinds as nurses, and as their 
growth increases, and consequently space is needed for the 
thrift of the walnut, the adjoining rows of nurse-trees 
may be cut down, and so the next, till a clear space of 
sixteen feet is made to allow of the development of the 
permanent tree. This manner of proceeding, though 
remunerative in the case of the black walnut, has proved 
to be with other species a false economy on the part of 
the planter, under the delusive idea that he could grow 
among the trees a half crop of other plants to pay him 
for the labor of cultivating his trees. For the first year 
he may reap his reward ; in some cases, perhaps, also for 
the second year, bat, meanwhile, when so widely planted, 
the trees suffer from branching and by leaning out on 
either hand for the light and air. It is true that in some 
cases, with very strong and rapid-growing species, tall- 
growing kinds of Indian corn in the alternate rows might 
supply the need of the supernumerary trees. 

" The white willow has been used as a nurse to the 
sugar maple and oaks with the object of saving the 
more valuable stock-plants, by filling up with willow- 
cuttings to shade the ground, thus diminishing the ex- 
pense of planting and cultivation, and at the same time 
to force the upward growth of the trees and to prevent 
their branching. 

" In planting the oaks at eight feet apart each way, 
with alternating willow-cuttings in the rows, and with 



ON PLANTING. 235 

alternating rows of willows set four feet apart, after the 
second year's growth the ground will be found so shaded 
as to require no other culture, and it becomes necessary 
to cut off the interfering branches from the willows. 
Meanwhile the oaks will have made satisfactory prog- 
ress and have reached a greater height than those of 
blocks planted with the same stock set at four feet apart 
and continuously cultivated so as to keep the ground 
loose and clean. 

" Unless care be taken to subordinate these nurses they 
will be likely to overwhelm the more valuable plants, 
and they are not, therefore, recommended for all pur- 
poses, as their growth is so vigorous that their excessive 
thrift supplants the more valuable tree. As soon as the 
permanent tree has reached sufficient size to shade the 
ground, little trouble need be experienced by the sprout- 
ing of the willow-stumps, as they will in their turn fur- 
nish material cuttings for other plantations. 

" Evergreens which have been used as nurses to other 
evergreens are to be treated in the same way. 

" When the thickly set trees have reached a height of 
from eight to twelve feet and make a dense thicket, so as 
to endanger the sturdiness of the plants, instead of chop- 
ping them at the ground the stems are lopped off at the 
height of four, five, or six feet, leaving all below to shade 
the ground and for the important work of aiding in the 
destruction of the side-limbs of the other trees, which 
thus soon lose their lower branches by the processes of 
nature, and not only is this more cheaply, but it is also 
much better done than by the laborious process of trim- 
ming. The lopped trees do not recover their upright 
habit of growth, but are soon overpowered by those 
which are left, that now grow with renewed vigor, and, 
while the beheaded trees continue to drag out a misera- 
ble existence, they are still doing a good work in aiding in 
the perfection of the shafts of their more favored fellows. 

" The white ash, hard maples, oaks, elms, hickories, 



236 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

chestnuts, beeches, and many other desirable species, may 
all be economically grown by the aid of the cheap nurse- 
trees in the manner recommended for the walnut. 

" Some persons have thought the recommendation to 
plant trees at every four feet, or even more closely, was 
a waste of good material. It is not so, but a gain rather 
than a loss always follows from the close setting of the 
trees. The first cost of most of the stocks planted is 
a small matter compared to the labor of cultivation, to 
say nothing of the improved shape of the young trees 
and the economy that follows in the matter of cultiva- 
tion. Therefore, to produce a tall and healthy growth 
of trunk on trees, whether planted on hill-side, in valley, 
or on open plain, be assured that, after a judicious selec- 
tion of the species best adapted to soil and situation, 
they should be planted very thickly, say every four feet, 
or about three thousand trees to the acre, and the hap- 
piest results with the least expenditure of labor may be 
anticipated." 

RAPIDITY OF GROWTH OF HARDY TREES. 

" The following varieties, all things considered, are the 
best for general cultivation in the northwest : Cotton- 
wood, soft maple, silver poplar, black cherry, ash-leaved 
maple, catalpa, black walnut, and white walnut. R. C. 
Raymond, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, states that the fol- 
lowing-named varieties, planted when one foot in height, 
attain the following diameters and heights when ten 
years of age : 

Diameter, Inches. Height, Feet. 

Cottonwood 9 35 

Soft maple 8 30 

Silver poplar 9 30 

Black cherry 6 28 

Ash-leaved maple 5£ 27 

Catalpa 6 25 

Black walnut 5 20 

Butternut 5 20 



ON PLANTING. 237 

" The Hon. Suel Foster, of Muscatine, Iowa, reports 
the following as the growth of the varieties named, 
twenty years after transplanting : 

Diameter, Inches. Height, Feet. 

Soft maple 16 35 

Hard maple 14J 20 

Black cherry 11 40 

" The chestnut, twenty-four years from seed, grew to 
be 10 to 16^ inches in diameter, and 30 to 36 feet in 
height. The European larch, ten years transplanted, 
attained a diameter of 4 to TJ inches, and were 20 to 30 
feet in height." 

TRANSPLANTING SEEDLINGS. 

" The time for transplanting seedlings is a considera- 
tion dependent chiefly upon the thrift which the plants 
are likely to make in the seed-bed, and upon the disper- 
sion therein ; as also upon their kind. 

" In case of their being sown too thickly, it will then 
be necessary to give them more room, and for this pur- 
pose the healthiest and most vigorous are taken up after 
the first season and set out in nursery-grounds prepared 
for their reception. 

" As the thrift of the many species is so varied, a gen- 
eral direction cannot be here given for all ; but usually 
those kinds with abundance of roots may safely be trans- 
planted in the fall following their sowing, giving at the 
same time due consideration for their protection against 
extremes of temperature during winter. 

" In no wise is it advisable to transplant permanently, 
or even remove, species which are naturally of sparse 
root-growth till the spring, as the roots of such are not 
fully formed in, or hardy enough after, one season's 
growth to withstand the nipping effects of a winter's 
frost. Fall planting would be injurious to them, and 
would probably retard their growth, if not kill them. 



238 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

" With plants of a more mature growth, say of the 
third season and upward, the fall of the leaf may be 
taken as a set time to operate upon them (unless the 
approach of winter be precipitate after this annual oc- 
currence), as the time which intervenes between then 
and the setting in of frost, in most latitudes, will be suf- 
ficient to allow for the settlement of the earth in which 
the plants are fixed, and to prepare the seedling for an 
early start in the following spring. 

" On the transplanting of seedlings of the first season's 
growth, if any side-shoots exist they should be cut off, 
leaving only the single stem. As it is particularly requi- 
site to have this member as straight as possible, it should 
not in any way be interfered with till after it has pre- 
sented some traits of deportment, after which, if nec- 
essary, it may be headed back in accordance with the 
purpose for which it is intended. 

" Almost all seedlings require cultivating for a few 
years after being transplanted from the seed-bed, after 
which they may be conveyed to situations intended for 
their permanency. 

" Previous to transplanting young trees their roots are 
subjected to a process of pruning, w T hich exercises an 
important influence on their future thrift ; making the 
wounds, by a course of natural change, throw out an 
abundance of fibrous rootlets, thereby enlarging the field 
of nourishment, and establishing an equilibrium of sup- 
ply and demand so essentially necessary to a vigorous 
growth. This operation is more confined to plants grown 
from seed than from cuttings ; as in the latter kinds the 
roots are not long, but numerous and spreading; yet, 
when convenient, their roots, also, should be released from 
any superfluous growth by being judiciously trimmed, 
as* any wounds thereby formed do not by any means in- 
jure, but in their turn emit rootlets which are formed 
by the same law that governs the production of similar 
growth in layers. 



ON PLANTING. 239 

" Some kinds of trees, as the oak, hickory, and black 
walnut, produce long, carrot-like roots, which penetrate 
the soil to some considerable depth, and they are, there- 
fore, an inconvenient species to transplant if allowed 
to remain in the seed-bed till their roots have fully taken 
hold ; and upon this consideration may be determined 
the length of time which may be given them previous 
to removal to permanent sites. In the event of their 
lengthy existence in the seed-bed their roots may be 
exposed to injury on being taken up, in which case they 
are operated on as before described, and all injured parts 
trimmed off smoothly, no jagged wounds being allowed 
to remain attached, as these by their liability to early 
decay retard the thrift of the plant, and, sooner or later, 
convey disease to that portion of the trunk which they 
were designed to support and nourish. 

" Too great attention cannot be given to the subject 
of root-pruning, as upon this operation depends the after- 
vigor of the tree. In any event, whether from injury 
which necessitates it, or oh the removal of the plant 
from the seed-bed, the tap-root should be cut off to one 
third or so of its length, or at such a length as will con- 
veniently admit of its being placed in an easy position 
in the soil ; this will facilitate, if required, the removal 
of the tree in after-years, besides tending greatly to its 
successful thrift. 

" The following table may be useful to the planter, in 
showing the number of trees that may be raised on an 
acre of ground, when set out at any of the under-men- 
tioned distances : 

Distance Apart. No. of Plants. Distance Apart. No. of Plants. 

1 foot 43,560 9 feet 537 

1* " 19,360 12 " 302 

2 feet 10,890 15 " 193 

24 " 6,969 18 " 134 

3 " 4,840 21 " 98 

4 " 2,722 24 " 75 

5 " 1,742 27 " 59 

6 '* 1,210 30 " 48 



240 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 



TEANSPLANTING LAEGE TEEES. 

"The many efforts to transplant trees of large size, 
and effect their successful thrift, have met with some in- 
stances of failure, owing to the want of due regard to 
the several requirements which tend to the success of the 
undertaking. In some instances, the injury to the roots 
on being extracted from the soil, and the after-neglect 
of precautionary trimming of the injured parts previous 
to again inserting them, have been the source from whence 
decay and disease have originated, to the destruction of 
the growth operated on. Again, the want of experience 
in the preparation of the soil suitable for transplants, 
and the preserving of the quietude of the tree till Nat- 
ure enforces self-reliance and support by her produc- 
tion of agencies for this requisite, have been the cause of 
failure. 

" As the component material forming some soils varies 
from that of others, it is necessary that the planter be 
experienced in such matters, so as to come to a correct 
conclusion of the suitability of the soil to the growth of 
the species before he undertakes the removal of the tree 
from its ground. Generally the tree should be trans- 
planted to soil of the same character as that from which 
it is taken : and this may be held as a criterion of its 
adaptability, that the nearer these soils approach in char- 
acter the more confidence may be reposed in the future 
thrift of the tree. 

" One description of soil may be wet and porous, as the 
clayey sorts, while another may be dry and sandy. Each 
requires distinct preparation, conformable to many emer- 
gencies. The liability of any soil to retain moisture to 
excess necessitates that such methods be adopted as to 
prevent the flooding of the roots, which often occurs 
when the common system of hole-digging in clayey soils 
is resorted to, where the space excavated becomes a res- 
ervoir for the reception of surface-drainage and perco- 



ON PLANTING. 241 

t 

lating moisture. When such soil is to be planted in, the 
best form to give the bottom of the excavation is con- 
vex or dome-shaped, so that any water which may pass 
through the soil is carried off to the sides on its reaching 
the more elevated portion of the bottom ; and, to convey 
this casual flow to a distance beneath the root-bed, it 
will be well to have holes bored, say two in each pit, 
with a post-auger or other instrument. This will keep 
the roots from an excess of moisture, which would pos- 
sibly be injurious to them. On no account should the 
bottom of a pit in which a tree of large size is to be 
planted have a concave form, as the weight of the tree 
and of the earth thrown in around it will likely act in 
such a manner as to induce a distortion of the roots by 
throwing them out of their natural position, ' which in 
most trees is at a slight angle from the stem down- 
ward.' 

" In instances where the roots of transplants, as in seed- 
lings, are so long that they inconvenience the planting 
of the tree, they are cut off, not entirely, but to a neces- 
sary length, as it has been found that by so doing the 
setting of the roots is hastened by the emission of root- 
lets from the wounds so made. It may also be borne in 
mind that it does not follow from allowing numerous 
roots to adhere to a tree on its being transplanted that 
each and every one of them will draw sustaining food 
from the soil. On the contrary, either from disposition, 
or from decay caused by contact with uncongenial expo- 
sure, many become unsustaining ; and this fact, therefore, 
enforces the necessity of due attention being paid to the 
growth above ground, which should be pruned to con- 
form to the amount of nutriment likely to be supplied 
to it. 

" Another necessary precaution, to prevent the displace- 
ment of the roots, when once placed in the ground, and 
to keep the tree from excessive oscillation, has to be 
considered. The usual plan adopted for such an emer- 
11 



242 TREES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

gency is the placing of stakes close to the tree -stem, 
where they are lashed, their stability being relied upon 
to keep the tree from being so shaken as to cause any 
motion of its roots till they have taken firm hold in 
the ground. Another method in use is the staying of 
the stem by means of four lengths of wire which are 
made fast to it at a convenient height from the ground, 
and extended downward and outward till they reach 
the surface, where their ends are wound round pegs 
driven firmly, so as to keep the wire in a state of tension 
and the tree in an upright position in the centre of the 
circle so formed. 

" Eoots of large trees, when placed in ground without 
pruning, are extended as nearly as possible conformable 
to their natural repose, and in this position are bound 
down by means of forked pegs. By the adoption of this 
plan a great deal of the necessity of outside supports, 
or stays, is lessened, as the pegs hold the roots so firmly 
that no danger of their displacement need be anticipated." 



CHAPTER LYIII. 

THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF THE TREES OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 

The following chapter has been prepared for this 
work at my request, by Messrs. Parke Davis & Co., man- 
ufacturing chemists, of Detroit, Michigan. I was led 
to solicit the aid of this firm in the preparation of this 
portion of my work through the reputation which it has 
achieved in investigating the medicinal properties of the 
indigenous flora. Prior to its efforts there had been no 
systematic attempt in this direction, and such additions 
to the materia medica as had been made from this source 
were largely through accidental acquaintance with the 
medicinal virtues of particular drugs. Messrs. Parke 
Davis & Co. have for several years been investigating 
our flora, and while they have found many to be of 
negative medicinal value, the list of those which have 
proven serviceable is sufficiently large and important 
to have made a success of their laudable undertaking. 
These investigations referred to have, moreover, peculiar- 
ly fitted them for the task which they have kindly as- 
sumed in connection with this book. 

As might naturally have been expected of a country 
of the dimensions of the United States, with its diversity 
of climate and soil, and the variety in the physical con- 
formation of its territory, the variety of its medicinal 
flora is great. Nature has in no sense of the word been 
remiss in her bestowal of medicinal blessings to the peo- 
ple of this country, and, while we are not fully com- 



244 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

mitted to the belief that she has provided in each section 
a growth of the drugs best suited to the relief of the 
diseases peculiar to that section, we nevertheless be- 
lieve, as the result of no little attention to the subject, 
that there are indigenous drugs much better suited to 
many of the diseases of this country than are some of 
the remedies of foreign extraction, the use of which med- 
ical fashion has perpetuated since their original introduc- 
tion. 

There are, moreover, but few of the foreign trees from 
which we derive our medicines which either do not at- 
tain to considerable perfection in the natural state in this 
country, or which may not be successfully cultivated in 
some section of our vast territory — in some of its valleys, 
on some of its mountain-sides, or along some of its water- 
courses. The actual and possible medicinal wealth of 
the United States of America is imperfectly appreciated 
even by medical men. Of late years more attention than 
heretofore has been directed to our indigenous medicinal 
flora, and the additions from this source to the materia 
medica have been of such a nature as to encourage and 
stimulate further research in this direction. 

In the consideration which we purpose giving the trees 
of this country which furnish substances employed in 
medicine we shall not confine ourselves strictly to our 
indigenous flora, nor to such trees as may be regarded 
as forest-trees. Some valuable trees have been intro- 
duced, and, though they have become naturalized and ac- 
climated, are not strictly entitled to be classed as natives. 
Some of our flora, too, which are rich in medicinal prin- 
ciples, are not of sufficient size to justify their classifica- 
tion among the forest-trees, that is, in the general ac- 
ceptation of the term. 

In this consideration of trees from a medicinal point 
of view we shall make no attempt at classification. The 
difficulties in the way of a perfect classification of drugs 
are insuperable, and are recognized as such by both phy- 



THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TREES. 245 

sicians and pharmacists. Many efforts, some of which 
have been exceedingly elaborate, have been made at such 
a classification, but while each may be tolerably well 
adapted, to the special need desired, none has yet been 
made which is adapted to the requirements of all. For 
instance, the classification made by the botanist has 
nothing especially to commend it to the pharmacist, who 
has chiefly to do with the physical properties of drugs ; 
while such a one as may be suited to the needs of either 
of these is of no value to him interested particularly in 
investigating the physiological action of drugs. Inas- 
much, moreover, as the therapeutical properties of medi- 
cines cannot be predicated with absolute safety in either 
their botanical, chemical, or physiological peculiarities, 
the practical physician requires a classification different 
from that best suited to the needs of either of the others 
named. The necessarily brief consideration which we 
shall give of the medicinal trees of the United States is 
intended for neither of these professional callings, and 
we deem it not incumbent on us to attempt a classifica- 
tion adapted to either. Being thus freed from any obli- 
gation of the nature indicated, we shall, we think, best 
subserve the convenience of our readers by a simple al- 
phabetical arrangement of our subjects, and without ref- 
erence to any of the features selected as bases of classi- 
fication. 

Abies. The genus Pinus of Linnreus is divided into 
three genera : Pinus, Abies, and Larix. The Abies em- 
braces the firs and spruces, of which there are many 
varieties. Two of these, A. excelsa and A. Canadensis, 
are of especial interest, from a medicinal point of view, 
as furnishing respectively Burgundy and Canada, or 
Hemlock, pitch. Burgundy pitch is a resinous exudate 
from the stem of the A. excelsa, or spruce fir. The va- 
riety most prized is imported from Switzerland. In its 
pure state it is quite hard and brittle, and of a yellowish- 



246 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

opaque color. Its chief use is as an excipient for various 
plasters. It is itself lightly rubefacient, and may even 
produce a slight inflammation in sensitive skins ; occa- 
sionally also vesication and ulceration may attack the 
seat of its application. It is useful in rheumatic pains of 
a chronic nature, and particularly, perhaps, in lumbago. 
Canada pitch is very closely analogous to Burgundy 
pitch in its properties, but is more readily softened by 
heat, a property which sometimes offers an objection to 
its substitution for the latter. 

iEscuLus hippocastanttm (Horse-chestnut). The bark 
of the horse-chestnut has been an object of much inter- 
est, because of its furnishing a possible substitute for 
cinchona. The bark of branches of trees of from three 
to five years of age is considered the best. The claims 
which have been made for it in this connection cannot, 
however, be said to have been substantiated, although 
the bark certainly does possess some degree of antiperi- 
odic property. It may be given in substance or in the 
form of a decoction or extract. The dose of the bark is 
from half an ounce to an ounce. 

-zEsculus pavia, the red buckeye of the Southern States, 
yields a fruit which is actively poisonous, producing 
symptoms analogous to those caused by strychnia. It 
has not been utilized to any extent in medicine. 

Ailanthus olandtjlosa. This tree, popularly known 
as the " Tree of Heaven," which has been of late years 
cultivated to some extent in this country as a shade-tree, 
has valuable medicinal properties. The bark is a very 
active anthelmintic, its administration being followed by 
copious stools, with which are usually associated traces 
of the worm (tapeworm) when it is present in the intes- 
tines. The dose for this purpose is about thirty grains. 

The bark, or its fluid extract, has also been used with 
good effect in nervous affections, such as nervous palpi- 
tation of the heart, hiccough, etc., and in spasmodic 
asthma. 



THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TREES. 247 

Alder (American). The bark of the root of the com- 
mon, or smooth, alder is possessed of alterative prop- 
erties, and is also astringent and emetic. It is quite a 
popular domestic " blood-purifier," and has even received 
y favorable mention as a remedy in scrofula by the med- 
ical profession. 

Alder (Black). The bark and the berries of the black 
alder both contain the medicinal principle of the shrub. 
It is recommended as a tonic and alterative, and enters 
largely into the proprietary alterative compounds on the 
market. It has been proposed as a substitute for Peru- 
vian bark, but it cannot supply the place of the latter, 
except possibly as a tonic and stomachic in dyspepsia. 
The dose of the powdered bark is about a teaspoonf ul. 
A preferable form of administration is the decoction 
made by boiling two ounces of the bark in three pints 
of water, down to a quart. One or two wineglassf uls of 
this is a dose. 

American Aspen (see Populus). 

American Poplar (see Tulip-tree). 

American Silver Fir (Balm of Gilead). This is a 
member of the Abies family, already referred to, and is 
the source of Canada balsam. 

Andromeda Arborea (Sorrell-tree). This beautiful tree 
takes its common name from the acid taste of its leaves, 
which are used by hunters to allay thirst, and form also 
a pleasant, cooling drink in fevers. 

Angelica-tree (Arabia sjnnosa). The properties of 
this tree reside in its bark, and are described as stimu- 
lant diaphoretic. The bark is used in chronic rheuma- 
tism and in cutaneous eruptions. In some parts of the 
country it has a reputed value as a remedy in syphilis. 
The berries also contain a certain percentage of the 
medicinal principle of the tree, and a spirituous infusion 
of them is said to relieve the pain of a carious tooth 
when applied to the cavity. The bark may be adminis- 
tered either in the form of a fluid extract or in decoction. 



248 TEEES AND TEEE-PL ANTING. 

Aeboe-vit,e {Thuja Occidentalis). The leaves or small 
twigs of this tree are the part used. This drug possesses, 
to a certain degree, antiperiodic properties, and it has 
also been used as a remedy in coughs and rheumatism. 
"Within a few years arbor-vitse has been recommended 
on the authority of gentlemen of high standing in the 
medical profession as a remedy in cancer. Dr. J. K. 
Learning, of New York City, has spoken of it in a man- 
ner which furnishes grounds for no very inconsiderable 
hope from it in this disease ; and Dr. J. B. Bice, of Fre- 
mont, Ohio, reports a remarkable cure from its use in 
the Michigan Medical JVews, of Detroit, Michigan. The 
position of both of these gentlemen in the profession de- 
mands for this article a further and thorough test of the 
claims which they make for it. 

Aueantii (Orange). A native of China and India, the 
orange was thence introduced into Europe, and after- 
wards transplanted to America during the early history 
of the country. Various parts of the tree are used in 
medicine. The leaves, which are bitter and aromatic, 
are in some places employed, in the form of an infusion, 
as a gently stimulating diaphoretic ; but the rind of the 
fruit is the part of most value in medicine. There are 
two varieties, the bitter and the sweet. The bitter is a 
mild tonic, carminative, and stomachic ; while the sweet 
is simply aromatic. Neither is much used by itself, but 
enter quite largely as correctives into various tonic com- 
pounds. 

Betula lenta (Sweet Birch). This tree is also vari- 
ously known as black birch, cherry birch, and mountain 
mahogany. It is remarkable for the aromatic flavor of 
its bark and leaves, which, in the form of an infusion, 
are an agreeable and gently stimulating diaphoretic. It 
yields an oil which analysis has shown to be identical 
with the oil of wintergreen. 

Black Haw ( Viburnum prunifolium). This tree-like 
shrub is conspicuous for the beauty of its foliage and 



THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TREES. 249 

flowers. It has within a few years been advanced to 
the front rank among remedies employed to prevent 
miscarriages. Although for a long time enjoying a mere 
local reputation, in some sections, as a remedy in threat- 
ened abortion, it was not until the year 1876 that it was 
brought prominently to the notice of the medical pro- 
fession, in a paper read before the American Gynaeco- 
logical Society, by Professor E. W. Jenks, late of Detroit, 
but now of Chicago, Illinois. The high position occu- 
pied by Doctor Jenks in his profession vested his claims 
for black haw with much interest, and the tests to which 
they were soon after put have but tended to substanti- 
ate them. It acts as a sedative to that irritable condi- 
tion of the womb which manifests itself both in habitual 
miscarriages and in painful menstruation, for which lat- 
ter condition it is perhaps more valuable than even in 
threatened abortion. 

The bark of the root is the part employed, and it is 
most conveniently given in the form of a fluid extract. 

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is not so extensively 
employed in medicine as its congener, the white walnut 
or butternut (Juglans cinered). The expressed juice of 
the rind is said to have cured herpes, eczema, etc. ; and 
a decoction of the rind possesses also the property of re- 
moving worms from the intestines. The leaves have 
been latterly very highly recommended as a remedy in 
scrofula. 

Black Oak (Qucrcus tinctoria). The black oak is one 
of the loftiest and most majestic trees of the forest. Its 
bark is strongly astringent, and is largely employed in 
tanning and dyeing. Its astringent properties suggest its 
use in diarrhoea, and as an injection in lax conditions of 
the mucous membrane of either intestines or other surface 
covered with this membrane. In relaxed uvula and sore- 
throat, and as an astringent wash in spongy granula- 
tions (proud flesh), hemorrhoids, etc., it has proven of 
value. The ground bark, incorporated in a poultice, has 



250 TEEES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

proven useful in gangrenous or mortified conditions. 
Baths of a decoction of oak-bark are valuable in weak 
children, whose lax condition is the result of debilitating 
disease. 

Broad-leaved Laurel {Kalmia latifolia), known also 
as mountain laurel, sheep laurel, calico bush, etc. This 
tree-like shrub is quite an active poison, and should be 
employed as a medicine with considerable care. In me- 
dicinal doses it is an alterative, depresses the heart's ac- 
tion, and is somewhat astringent. It has been success- 
fully employed, because of its alterative properties, as a 
remedy in chronic syphilitic affections. Applied exter- 
nally, the decoction of the leaves has been found valua- 
ble in scald head, but owing to the poisonous nature of 
the substance it must be employed with prudence. 

The leaves are the parts employed in medicine, and 
may be employed either in the form of a decoction or 
tincture. 

Butternut (Juglans cinerea). Butternut is a mild ca- 
thartic, and operates without pain or irritation, or the 
subsequent constipation which is the objection to most 
other cathartics. It is also a domestic remedy of some 
repute in chronic rheumatism, and in some sections has 
a reputed value as an anti-intermittent. 

The leaves of the butternut have, in the past few 
years, been recommended in the treatment of diphtheria, 
and the reports of eminent French experiments have 
been very favorable, and have to a certain degree been 
corroborated by tests in this country. A strong infusion 
is the form in which they are applied, and may be given 
either as a spray, or applied, by means of a swab, directly 
to the membrane. If further trials prove equally satis- 
factory with those which have already been made, but- 
ternut leaves will be established as a valuable addition 
to the materia medica for this grave affection. 

California Bay Laurel {Oreodajphne Calif or 7iica). 
An evergreen tree of considerable size, which is indige- 



THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TREES. 251 

nous to California. This tree was first brought to notice 
as a medicine by Dr. L. Mann, of California, who found 
it of much value in a variety of affections, prominent 
among which are nervous headache and atonic diarrhoea. 
Dr. Mann's first reference to the medicinal virtues of the 
California laurel was in New Preparations, in 1879, from 
which the following is excerpted : " The peculiar odor 
and effect of the leaves upon myself first attracted my 
attention to this tree as of value therapeutically, and I 
have since experimented somewhat with its use in prac- 
tice. The first effect of inhaling the odor of the leaves 
is, as I have above stated, an almost unendurable frontal 
headache, and after a period the spinal nerves are pain- 
fully irritated also. Its principal effect, however, is upon 
the cerebro-spinal nervous system. For several years I 
have treated nervous headache with the laurel quite suc- 
cessfully by instructing the patient to inhale the odor 
from the pressed leaves, taking care not to continue the 
inhalation beyond the point of relief." Dr. Mann dis- 
covered another quality in the tree which vests it with 
additional interest : " The laurel has another use which 
may seem incongruous when considered in connection 
with its powerful medicinal action. It is, however, high- 
ly prized by all who have used it as a flavor, or season- 
ing for food. It may be used with roasts, stews, soups, 
stuffing for game and poultry, sausages, or any prepara- 
tion of meat where a condiment is necessary. In my 
opinion it is far superior to any of the savory herbs in 
use, but great care should be used not to exceed the 
proper quantity for the purpose, which can only be de- 
cided by experience. I am accustomed to use five leaves 
for a ten-pound roast, and usually lay the leaves upon 
the bottom of the pan under the meat before placing 
the pan in the oven. They will bear considerable cook- 
ing. A skilful cook will soon learn by experience how 
much is needed for the desired flavor, and I have no 
doubt that all who taste it will agree with me that it is 



252 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 

the most delicate seasoning which, they have found. In 
my own family we do not consider a soup or roast com- 
plete without a flavor of laurel, and should not be sur- 
prised that, if properly introduced, it will become as pop- 
ular and as great a necessity as tea and coffee. I hope 
that some enterprising chemist will analyze this drug, in 
order that we may know definitely to what its peculiar 
properties are due, and whether it is at all objectionable 
as a dietary article. It is certainly a very contradictory 
drug, producing in large doses almost toxical effects, 
while in small doses it becomes a stimulant to the ap- 
petite. 

Carya (Hickory). Both the leaves and the bark of 
the hickory are medicinal. They are possessed of very 
decided tonic properties, and, when given in the form of 
infusion, are valuable in atonic dyspepsia, besides pos- 
sessing also antiperiodic properties sufficiently marked 
to make them valuable both as a preventive and cura- 
tive of ague. 



INDEX. 



Adirondack®, only forest left in 

state of New York, 3. 
Ailanthus, or tree of heaven, 131. 
Air — forests retard dry currents of, 

13; Pacific currents of, 12. 
Apple - tree — common, 202-204; 

cultivation of, 203, 204. 
Arbor vitae, American, 160. 
Ash - trees — American flowering, 

69; black, 66; blue, 65; green, 

67; European, 67; mountain, 67- 

69; red, 66; white, 64; uses of, 

63-69. 
Aspen-trees — American, 148 ; large, 

148. 
Atmosphere, facts as to motion of, 

58-62. 
Attributes of trees, 37, 38. 
Australia, change of climate in, 14. 
Axemen, 21, 22. 

Banyan-tree, 30, 31. 

Baobab-tree, 28. 

Barrenness caused by denudation 
of forests, 3. 

Bavaria, rainfall in, 43. 

Berberry — common, 184; holly- 
leaved, 185; used for hedging, 
184. 

Birch-trees — amount of sap in, 51, 
52; black, 96; canoe, 96; red, 96; 
remembrances, sweet and bitter, 
connected with, 95; white, 96; 
yellow, 96. 

Bites, cedran-tree antidote for poi- 
sonous, 109, 110. 

Black gum, 137. 

Bow-wood, or osage orange, 129, 
130. 

Box-elder, 93, 94. 

Box-tree, 164. 



Bryant on growth of trees, 7. 

Buckeye-trees— edible, 135; horse- 
chestnut, 133; Ohio, 134; red, 
134; sweet, 134. 

Buckthorn, 187. 

Budding, methods of, 218-220. 

Buffalo berry tree, 113. 

Butternut-trees, 72. 

Buttonwood-tree, 147. 

California, logging in, 20-26. 

Cass River, logs rafted out of, 18. 

Catal pa-tree, 141. 

Cedar-trees, 31; cedran, 109, 110; 
juniper, 109; red, 109; white, 108. 

Cedran-tree, antidote for poison- 
ous bites, 109, 110. 

"Charter Oak," 31. 

Cherry-trees — wild black, 150 ; wild 
red, 151. 

Chestnut - trees — ' ' Castagna di 
Cento Cavalla," 29; chincapin, 
91,92; planting and thinning, 90, 
91. 

Chincapin-trees, 91, 92. 

Civilization, trees essential to, 4. 

Climate, influence of trees on, 41- 
44. 

Cocoanut-trees, 31. 

Congress should protect forests, 5. 

Coniferae of Upper California, 27. 

Corn-crop, effects of shelter-belts 
on, 59-61. 

Corporations — Congress squanders 
large tracts of public forest-land 
upon, 6; destroy forests and 
make the country barren, 2, 20- 
24. 

Countries become barren and de- 
populated through loss of for- 
ests, 2, 3. 



254 



INDEX. 



Country, effects of forests on a, 14. 
Cuttings, propagating trees from, 

213-215. 
Cypress-trees, 29; deciduous, 158. 

Deserts, want of forests produce, 2. 

Dogwood-trees — Cornel, 124; Ja- 
maica, 124^126. 

Drake, Dr., on importance of sav- 
ing forests, 7. 

Dry-belt, experiments on rainfall 
of, 11. 

Eastern lands deserted, 2. 

Egypt, increase of rainfall in Low- 
er, 13. 

Elm-trees — 32; red, 84; shady and 
ornamental, 82-84; wahoo, or 
winged, 83, 84; white, 82, 83. 

Eucalyptus-trees, 57; prevent ma- 
laria, 175; rapid growth, 174, 
175, 177. 

Europe, observations on rainful in, 
57. 

Evaporation, effect of trees upon, 
11. 

Evergreens — give off warmth and 
moisture, 54; keep cold winds 
in check, 46. 

" Exodium of warmth," 54. 

Experiments on atmosphere, 56- 
61. 

Famine, a timber, 16, 17. 

Farm utensils, white ash for, 64. 

Features, variety of, in trees, 37, 38. 

Fences, enormous amount of tim- 
ber in, 9. 

Fig-trees, 32. 

Florida, live-oak woods of, 5, 33. 

Forest, description of a, 38-40. 

Forest - growing regions, Kansas 
and Nebraska famous, 12. 

Forests — affect prevailing wind, 
12; beauty of retreats in, 38-40; 
burning to clear land, 14, 15; 
California Redwood, 20; cause 
showers, 12; Congress indiffer- 
ent to fate of, 6; cooler than 
fields in day, warmer at night, 
57; countries barren and depop- 
ulated through loss of, 2, 3; de- 
stroying, almost like taking hu- 
man life, 9; destruction of, 17, 



18; destruction of, in Bokhara, 
43; disappearance of, 3; distri- 
bution of rainfall identical with, 
44; Dr. Drake on importance of 
saving, 9; dry currents of air re- 
tarded by, 12; duty of Ameri- 
cans to protect, 7; effect of de- 
stroying, in Russia, 42, 43; ef- 
fects of their destruction, 1; 
eight millions of acres denuded 
every year, 10; excuses for their 
destruction, 1, 2; fires and saw- 
mills destroy, 2 ; great red fir, 5 ; 
impenetrable, unfit for abode of 
man, 3; importance of saving, 
6, 7; in Germany and France be- 
long to government, 4; in Mon- 
tana and Washington Territory, 
5; increase moisture, 14; Ne- 
braska replaces, 11 ; none left in 
New York, 2; not protected in 
United States, 5; of Michigan 
and Wisconsin disappearing, 2; 
rainfall less on cleared land than 
in, 57; remnants of extinct, 36; 
right of protecting should be 
given to the. states, 5, 15; Rocky 
Mountains will soon be stripped 
of, 9, 10; vandalism committed 
by corporations on, 9, 10. 

Fringe-tree, 145. 

Fuel scarce in the East, 35. 

Grape-vines — American wild, 197; 
Carolina, 200; Catawba, 199; El- 
sanborough, 200; Isabella, 199; 
planting, 200-201. 

Gordonia — pubescent - leaved, 190 ; 
woolly-leaved, 189. 

Government indifferent to denuda- 
tion of timber-land, 6. 

Grafting, methods of, 220-223. 

Great Salt Lake,w T aters increasing, 
14. 

Hackberry-tree, 142. 

Hardy trees, rapid growth of, 236, 

237. 
, Havoc worked in West, 6. 
! Heat— in trees and plants, 45, 46; 

laws of, 55-57. 
; Hedges— berberry for, 184; should 

be planted, 15. 
1 Herd laws, 15. 



INDEX. 



255 



Hickory-trees — butternut, 100; em- 
blematic character of, 97 ; mock- 
er nut, 99; pecan nut, 99; pig- 
nut, 98, 99; shellbark, 98; thick 
shellbark, 98. 

Holly-tree, 165. 

Hoop-poles, black ash for, 64. 

Horse-chestnut trees, list of, 133. 

Humidity of atmosphere, effect of 
forests on, 14. 

India, forest-service of, 41, 42. 
Iron-furnaces, 17. 
Iron-wood tree, 146. 

Japan Sophora, 113. 
Juaeberry-tree, 139. 
** Jonesia Asika," 33. 
Juniper-tree, 109. 

Lands, treeless, 2. 

Larch -trees — black, or tamarask, 
114; European, 115-117. 

Laurel-trees — American, 166; Car- 
olina, 168; great, 167; rose bay, 
167; sheep, 167. 

Laws — herd and forestry, 15; of 
heat, 55-57. 

Layering, growth from, 215-218. 

Linden-trees — buffalo berry, 113; 
European, 112; Japan Sophora, 
113; sassafras, 113; white, 112. 

Locust-trees — black, or common, 
98; honey, 85-87; rose-flowered, 
89; varieties and uses, 85-89; 
water, 87; yellow, 87. 

Logging in California, 25. 

Logs rafted out of Saginaw dis- 
tricts, 18. 

Lumber — demand for, increasing 
at rate of twenty-five per cent, a 
year, 15 ; men employed in hand- 
ling, 9. 

Lumber companies, destruction of 
forests by, 2. 

Magnolia - trees — cucumber, 118 ; 
ear-leaved, or ear-leaved umbrel- 
la, 120; great-leaved, 120; "pur- 
purea," 122; small, sweet bay, 
119; umbrella, 120; yellow cu- 
cumber, 119; yulan, 121. 

Mahogany-tree, 193-196. 

Maple - trees— box - elder, or ash- 



leaved, 79 ; large - leaved, 80 ; 
moose-wood, or striped, 79; Nor- 
way, 79; round - leaved, 80, 81; 
soft, 77, 78; sugar, 74-77; value 
of, 74. 

Medicinal properties of trees of 
United States, 245 et seq. 

"Miner's Cabin," 28. 

Moisture increased by forests, 14. 

Mulberry - trees — black, 127; red, 
126; white, 127. 

Murphy's mill, consumption of 
redwood by, 20-24. 

Nurses, or surplus trees or shrubs, 
233. 

Oak-trees — black, 182; black-jack, 
183; burr, 179; European, 33,34; 
laurel, 183; live, 183; pin, 182; 
post, 181; red, 182; sap of, 47; 
scarlet,182; Spanish,183; swamp- 
chestnut, 181 ; " The Wads- 
worth," 33; white, 181; willow, 
183. 

Observations on rainfall in Eu- 
rope, 57. 

Orange-trees, golden, 205-209. 

Osage orange-tree, 129, 130. 

Oxogens, experiments on sap of, 
47. 

Palmyra-tree, 31. 

Papaw-tree, 139. 

Pepperidge-tree, 137. 

Persimmon-tree, date-plum, 126. 

Pine-trees — Austrian, 106; Corsi- 
can,106; gray, or scrub, 103,104; 
loblolly, or Oldfield, 105; pitch, 
105; red, 103; Scotch, 106; scrub, 
106; stone, 105; table-mountain, 
107; uses and products,101-107; 
white, 102; yellow, 104. 

Plains, Western, may become well- 
watered, 14. 

Planting-trees— suggestions on, and 
directions for, 226-236. 

Poplar- trees — balsam, 149; downy- 
leaved, 148; white, 149. 

Pride of India, 191. 

Propagation of trees, 210, 211, 226- 
236. 

Protection of forests, old system 
will not do, 5, 15. 



256 



INDEX. 



Pruning trees, directions for, 223- 
225. 

Rainfall — distribution identical 
with forests, 44 ; increase in 
Kansas and Nebraska, 14; in- 
crease in Lower Egypt, 13; in 
forests exceeds that of cleared 
land, 57; observation of, 43, 44. 

Red-bud tree or shrub, 144. 

Reservations for timber, 16. 

Retreat, beauty of forest, 38-40. 

Rivers diminish where timber is 
cut off, 13. 

Russia, destruction of forests in, 
42,43. 

Saginaw districts, logs rafted out 

of, 18. 
Santa Cruz, results of forest de- 
struction in, 13. 
Sap, experiments on flow of, 47-53. 
Saw-mills — destroy forests, 2 ; forty 

cutting redwood, 26; Murphy's, 

20-24. 
Saws, one firm run two hundred, 2. 
Seedlings, transplanting, 237-239. 
Seeds — number of, to a pound, 

170; raising trees from, 211- 

213. 
Shelter - belts — climatic influence 

of, 54-62; effect on corn-crops, 

59-61. 
Shittim wood, 35. 
Sierras, lumbermen on, 19. 
Soap-plant, 32. 

Soil, moisture of, in woods, 12. 
Speculators buy up timber-land, 2. 
Spruce - trees — balsam fir, 157 ; 

black, 155 ; Fraser's fir, 157; 

hemlock, 156; Norway, 155; red 

and blue, 155; white, 154. 
States, right of protecting forests 

should be left to, 5, 15. 
Stock should not be allowed to 

run at large, 29- 

Tara, 31. 

"Three Sisters, The," 28. 

Timber — great consumption of, in 
railroad ties and fences, 9; old- 
est in America, 35, 36; oldest in 
the world, 35; want of, felt in 
older states, 4, 6; waste of, 1, 2. 



Timber-land, government indiffer- 
ent to denudation of, 6. 

Timber-trees, list of valuable, 169. 

Time required for growth of a 
tree, 1. 

Transplanting — large trees, 240- 
242; seedlings, 237-239. 

Treeless lands, 2, 3. 

" Treaty Elm," 32. 

Trees — Ailanthus, or tree of heav- 
en, 131. Apple, common, 202- 
204. American arbor vitae, 160. 
Ash, American flowering, 69; 
black, 66; blue, 65; European, 
67; green, 67; mountain, 67-69; 
red, 66; white, 64. Aspen, Amer- 
ican, 148; large, 148. Banyan, 

30, 31. Baobab of Africa, 28. 
Birch, black, 96; canoe, 96; red, 
96; white, 96; yellow, 96. Black 
gum, 137. Bow-wood, or osage 
orange, 129, 130. Box.164. Box- 
elder, 93, 94. Buckeye, edible, 
135; horse-chestnut, 132; Ohio, 
134; red,134; sweet,134. Buck- 
thorn, 187. Buffalo berry, 113. 
Butternut, 72. Buttonwood, or 
plane, 147. " Castagna di Cento 
Cavalla,"29. Catalpa, 141. Ce- 
dar, red, 108; white, 108. " Char- 
ter Oak," 31. Cherry, wild black, 
150; wild red,151. Chestnut, 29, 
90; chincapin, 91,92. Cocoanut, 

31. Coniferse, 27. Cucumber, 
118; yellow, 119. Cypress, 29; 
deciduous, 158. Dogwood, Cor- 
nel, 124; Jamaica, 124-126. Elm, 
32; red, 84; wahoo, or winged, 
83, 84; white, 82, 83. Eucalyp- 
tus, or fever, 171-178. Fig, 32. 
Fir, balsam, 157; Fraser's, 157; 
great red, 5. Fringe, 145. Gold- 
en Orange, 205-209. Gordonia, 
pubescent - leaved, 190; woolly 
flowered, 189. Ilackberry, 142. 
Hickory, butternut, 100; mocker 
nut, 99; pecan nut, 99; pignut, 
98,99; shellbark,98; thick shell- 
bark, 98. Holly, 165. Horse- 
chestnut, 133. Iron-wood, 146. 
Japan Sophora, 113. "Jonesia 
Asika," 33. Juneberry, 139. 
Juniper, 109. Larch, black, or 
tamarisk, 114; European, 115- 



INDEX. 



257 



117. Laurel, American, 166; 
Carolina, 168; great, 167; sheep, 
167. Lime, wild, 138. Linden, 
30; European, 112; white, 112. 
Locust, black, or common, 88; 
honey, 85-87; rose-flowered, 89 ; 
w r ater, 87; yellow, 87. Magno- 
lia, 118-122 ; Cucumber, 118; 
ear-leaved, or ear-leaved umbrel- 
la, 120; great-leaved, 120; "pur- 
purea," 122; small, or .sweet bay, 
119; yellow cucumber, 119; yu- 
lan, 121. Mahogany, 192, 196. 
Maple, box-elder, or ash-leaved, 
79; large-leaved, 80; moose-wood, 
or striped, 79; Norway, 79; round- 
leaved, 80, 81 ; soft, 77, 78; sugar, 
48-51, 74-77. "Miner's Cabin," 
28. Mulberry, 33; black, 127; 
red, 126; white, 127. Oak, 30, 
33: black, 132; black-jack, 183; 
burr, 179; laurel, 183; live, 5, 33, 
183; pin, 182; post, 181; red, 182; 
scarlet, 182; Spanish, 183; swamp- 
chestnut, 181; white, 181; wil- 
low, 183. Orange, golden, 205- 
209. Osage orange, 129, 130.- 
Palmyra, 31. Papaw, 139. Pep- 
peridge, 137. Persimmon, date- 
plum, 126. Pine, Austrian, 106; 
Corsican, 106; gray, or scrub, 
103, 104; loblolly, or Oldfield, 
105; pitch, 105; red, 103; Scotch, 
106; scrub, 106; stone, 105; ta- 
ble-mountain, 107; white, 102; 
yellow, 104. Poplar, balsam, 
downy-leaved, 148; white, 149. 
Pride of India, 191. Red-bud, 
144. Redwood, 20. Rose bay, 
167. Sassafras, 113. Soap-plant, 
32. Spruce, black, 155; hemlock, 
156; Norway, 155; red and blue, 
155; white, 154. M The Cypress 
of Montezuma," 29. " The Rid- 
ing School," 29. "The Three 
Sisters," 28. "Treaty Elm," 
32. Tupelo, 137. Umbrella, 120. 
Walnut, 30, 32; black, 71, 72; 
English, 73. ' ' Washington," 28. 
Willow, brittle, 152; shining, 153; 
weeping, 153; white, 152. Yel- 
low wood, 123. Tew, 30; Amer- 
ican, or ground hemlock, 162; 
English, 162. 

11* 



Trees— ash, uses of, 63-69; attri- 
butes, 37; birch, amount of sap, 
51, 52; birch, pleasant and bitter 
remembrances, 95; bleeding, 47 
48; budding, 218-220; cedran| 
antidote for poisonous bites, 109, 
110; chestnut, planting and thin- 
ning, 90, 91 ; circulation of sap, 
47-53; cold winds checked by 
evergreen, 54; cutting, 213-215; 
elm, sap of, 48; elm, shady 
and ornamental, 82-84; essential 
to civilization, 4 ; evaporation 
through, immense, 10; experi- 
ments on flow of sap, 47-53; 
famous, 27-34; give off heat, 
45; grafting, 220-223; hickory, 
its emblematic character, 97; 
horse-chestnut, list of, 133; in- 
fluence of, on climate, 41-44; 
kinds to plant, 63 et seq.; layer- 
ing, 215-218; lindens, bark used 
for twine, 112; list of valuable 
timber, 169; locust, varieties and 
uses, 85-89; maple, value of, 74; 
medicinal properties of those of 
United States, 243-252; moisture 
given off by peach, 10; murder 
of, 8; number of tree-seeds to 
a pound, 170; oak most valu- 
able of all, 179; pine, uses and 
products, 101-107; planting, 15, 
16,226-236; propagation of, 210- 
225; pruning, 223-225; rapid 
growth of hardy, 236, 237; sap, 
experiments with regard to, 47- 
53; sap flows from wounds in, 
47; seeding, 211-213; tempera- 
ture of, 45; time from seed to 
maturity, 7; transplanting large, 
240-242; variety of features in, 
37, 38; walnut, profit from, 70; 
warmth and moisture from ever- 
green, 54; will not mature in a 
lifetime, 7. 
Tupelo-tree, 137. 

Vandalism— 1, 2, 8; committed by 
corporations, 2, 9, 10. 

Walnut-trees-30,32; black, 71,72; 

English, 73; profit on, 70. 
Walnuts and cannon-balls, 32. 
" Washington Tree," 28. 



258 



INDEX. 



Waste of timber in Western States, 
1,2. 

Water, large areas flooded with, 42. 

Wild lime-tree, 138. 

Willow-trees— brittle, 153 ; sap of, 
48; shining, 153; weeping, 153; 
white, 152. 

Winds— facts as to motion of, 59- 
62 ; forests diminish force of pre- 
vailing, 14; kept in check by 
trees, 45, 46. 



Winter, some trees warmer than 

others in, 45. 
Wisconsin, fifty thousand acres of 

forest cleared annually, 2. 
Wood, necessary to man, 4. 
Woods, moisture of soil in, 12. 
World, oldest timber in the, 35. 

Yellow wood, 123. 
Yew - trees — American, or ground 
liemlock, 162; English, 162. 



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and Gilt Tops, $5 00. 

SHIPS OF WAR. Modern Ships of War. By Sir Edward J. Reed, 
M.P., Late Chief Constructor of the British Navy, and Edward 
Simpson, Rear- Admiral U. S. N., Late President U. S. Naval Advisory 
Board. With Supplementary Chapters and Notes by J. D. Jerrold 
Kelley, Lieutenant U. S. N. Illustrated. Square 8vo, Ornamental 
Cloth, $2 50. 

LODGE'S ENGLISH COLONIES IN AMERICA. English Colonies in 
America. A Short History of the English Colonies in America. 
By Henry Cabot Lodge. 8vo, Half Leather, $3 00. 

HARPER'S POPULAR CYCLOPAEDIA OF UNITED STATES HIS- 
TORY. 

From the Aboriginal Period to 1876. Containing Brief Sketches of 
Important Events and Conspicuous Actors. By Benson J. Lossing. 
Illustrated by Two Steel-plate Portraits and over 1000 Engravings. 
2 vols., Royal 8vo, Cloth, $10 00; Sheep, $12 00; Half Morocco, 
$15 00. (Sold by Subscription only.) 

PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION; or, Illustrations 
by Pen and Pencil of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and 
Traditions of the War for Independence. By Benson J. Lossing. 
2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $14 00 ; Sheep, $15 00 ; Half Calf, $18 00. 

PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF 1812 ; or, Illustrations 
by Pen and Pencil of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and 
Traditions of the last War for American Independence. By 
Benson J. Lossing. With 882 Illustrations, engraved on wood by 
Lossing & Barritt, chiefly from Original Sketches by the Author. 
Complete in One Volume, 1084 pages, large 8vo. Price in Cloth, 
$7 00; Sheep, $8 50; Full Roan, $9 00; Half Calf, or Half Mo- 
rocco extra, $10 00. 

KINGLAKES CRIMEAN WAR. The Invasion of the Crimea : its 
Origin, and an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord 
Raglan. By A. W. Kinglake. Maps and Plans. 6 vols., 12mo, 
Cloth, $2 00 per vol. ; Half Calf, $3 75. 



4 Some Books for the Library. 

GREEN'S HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. History of the 
English People. By John Richard Green, M.A. With Maps. In 
Four Volumes. 8vo, Cloth, $10 00 per vol. ; Sheep, $12 00 ; Half 
Calf, $19 00. 

GREEN'S SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. A Short 
History of the English People. By John Richard Green. With 
Maps and Tables. New and enlarged Edition, from New Electro- 
type Plates. Crown 8vo, Cloth. (Just Ready.) 

GREEN'S MAKING OF ENGLAND. The Making of England. By 
John Richard Green. With Maps. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50 ; Sheep, 
$3 00 ; Half Calf, $4 75. 

GREEN'S CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. The Conquest of England. 
By John Richard Green, M.A., LL.D. With Portrait and Colored 
Maps. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50 ; Sheep, $3 00 ; Half Calf, $4 75. 

MCCARTHY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. A History of Our Own 
Times, from the Accession of Queen Yictoria to the General Elec- 
tion of 1880. By Justin M'Carthy. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2 50. 

DRAPER'S AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. History of the American 
Civil War. By John W. Draper, M.D., LL.D. In Three Volumes. 
8vo, Cloth, $10 50; Sheep, $12 00; Half Calf, $17 25. 

ABBOTT'S FREDERICK THE GREAT. The History of Frederick 
the Second, called Frederick the Great. By Johx S. C. Abbott. Il- 
lustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00 ; Sheep, $5 50 ; Half Calf, $7 25. 

ABBOTT'S FRENCH REVOLUTION. The French Revolution of 
1789, as Viewed in the Light of Republican Institutions. By John 
S. C. Abbott. 100 Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00 ; Sheep, $5 50; 
Half Calf, $7 25. 

ABBOTT'S NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. The History of Napoleon 
Bonaparte. By John S. C. Abbott. With Maps, Illustraticns, and 
Portraits on Steel. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 00; Sheep, $11 00; 
Half Calf, $14 50. 

ABBOTT'S NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. Napoleon at St. Helena; 
or, Interesting Anecdotes and Remarkable Conversations of the 
Emperor during the Five and a Half Years of his Captivity. Col- 
lected from the Memorials of Las Casas, O'Meara, Montholon, An- 
tommarchi, and others. By John S. C. Abbott. Illustrated. 8vo, 
Cloth, $5 00 ; Sheep, $5 50 ; Half Calf, $7 25. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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